


I wanna waste all my love on you

by biographicalnonsense



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Fluff, M/M, Manager Nikandros, Movie AU, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Smut but it's only one chapter, actor Laurent, director auguste, former disney star auguste, influencer damen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23399452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biographicalnonsense/pseuds/biographicalnonsense
Summary: Laurent and Damen are cast in a movie together. While Laurent is an experienced actor who's already been on broadway and has grown up in a family of artists, Damen is just your typical influencer who's decided to branch out. Let's just say Laurent's not too impressed when he discovers he has to work with an amateur like that. Except for that the amateur actually looks kind of hot and maybe he isn't actually that bad at acting or singing.or alternativelyDamen and Laurent fall for each other while working on a movie together. Nikandros' life is made a living hell and Auguste's proud of himself for seeing it coming.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 227
Kudos: 192





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Second time posting on here, oof.
> 
> Quarantine actually has me writing all day (not saying it's my way of procrastinating, but actually it is).
> 
> So there you go. I've decided to start some kind of series with this idea I had in my head. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Title is from the song "Waste" by Dove Cameron

_Laurent's POV_

Laurent had just spent 5 minutes on the treadmill when his workout playlist was interrupted by Auguste’s ringtone. For just a second he debated just ignoring the call but as far as he knew his brother he could expect him calling the cops if he missed more than 5 calls in a row.

With a sigh, he placed the phone on the treadmill and accepted the video call. He was greeted by Auguste’s empty office and was tempted to hang up right that second. Auguste knew all too well that Laurent hated talking on his phone in public, he always felt so silly.

Seconds later Auguste’s blonde head appeared on screen, a stack of paper in his hand that he held in the camera. 

“I’ve got something for you.”, his voice sung through the headphones and Laurent visibly rolled his eyes at his brother.

“What is it this time? You know that I’ll be booked for the next whole year if the callbacks go well.”, he reminded his brother, trying his best to keep his voice down as not to be noticed by too many people at the gym.

“If you just hear me out you’ll see this is way better than just another show. Plus it’s not like you can’t do a show in the meantime, just not a full time one.”, Auguste grinned, running a hand through his messy hair and tapping the stack of paper ominously. 

“Well, I happen to care about broadway, thank you very much.”, Laurent emphasized the last words and pursed his lips.

“It’s still a musical though! That’s why I wanted to offer you the role first, baby bro.”, Auguste insisted and typed something on his keyboard. “I’m sending some of the songs and the script to you right now. Please, at least take a look at it.”

His phone screen lit up with a few messages from Auguste just seconds after and Laurent gave the tiniest of nods. “I will. Can’t promise anything else though.”

“I’m positive you’ll love it. Just text me if you accept. I’ve marked your parts in blue.”, the older one looked way too pleased with himself, sipping out of an old coffee mug at 8 in the evening.

“You know you should really stop the caffeine after 4. You’re already getting wrinkly.”, Laurent teased and turned the pace of the treadmill up. “I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

Without waiting for an answer he hung up on his brother, started his work out playlist again and focused on his breathing as he ran as fast as he could. Drenching his long-sleeved shirt in sweat in a matter of mere seconds.

After finishing almost two hours of cardio Laurent changed into fresh clothing and made his way home on the subway. His hair was hidden beneath a dark blue beanie and his eyes fixated on the floor avoiding meeting the gaze of anyone who might recognize him.

It wasn’t like he was super famous, in case he was recognized it would probably be one or two theatre nerds, but he didn’t need to risk gaining a stalker after all. And driving just seemed like a waste of time in a city like New York.

On his ride on the subway, Laurent decided to check his twitter, while his own profile was mostly empty except for some advertising of his shows he actually liked to follow people on there. People such as Auguste, even if he contained his ‘lifestyle-vlogging’ to IGTV. 

As he scrolled through his feed he saw a few tweets mentioning @agdevere and at the third, he finally stopped to read what it actually said.

_‘Breaking news. @agdevere has a whole new secret project in works. A little birdie told us it might be the LGBT+ rep we’ve all been waiting for!’_

Laurent hadn’t outed himself yet if you didn’t count Auguste and he wasn’t actually planning on doing it at all. Who he slept with or who he didn’t sleep with was nobody’s business, especially not the business of some nosy ass fans.

Growing up with famous parents every single step Laurent took had been documented and published and as soon as he could make the decision for himself he had stepped out of the spotlight as much as he could.

At least now he knew why his brother was so invested in him playing the lead. A gay musical was just what fit him and he couldn’t help being at least a little interested. So he opened the documents send by Auguste earlier and flipped through them.

At first, Laurent was taken aback. The role Auguste was offering him was an almost too stereotyped twink but when he heard the piano samples and looked at the songs he felt torn. 

Even if the movie would be kind of stereotyped it had enough potential of being something big. Big enough to push Laurent’s career to the point where he didn’t have to go to auditions anymore and he could actually pick what show he liked best.

As the subway halted at his stop he shook his head and put the phone back into his pocket. This was nothing he could decide in mere seconds, although Auguste might have been expecting him to. It would definitely take more than one pro and con list and a few nights to sleep on.

\-----------------------

Two months later Laurent found himself getting off a plane in LA. He’d packed only the bare necessities so his suitcase was, luckily, still manageable.

He stepped into the arrivals room, sunglasses and headphones on dragging behind a suitcase half his size and looked around in search of a familiar blonde head. 

“And there he arrives, our one and only star.”, he heard Auguste’s voice before he actually caught sight of his brother turning a camera towards him. 

“Turn that off.”, he groaned and pushed his hand over the lens before pulling Auguste into a tight hug that was immediately reciprocated. The familiar smell of Auguste’s cologne surrounded him and that was all that mattered for a small moment.

“I’m glad you finally joined us ‘presumptuous assholes’”, Auguste mumbled as they parted and drew a smile out of Laurent who simply shrugged. 

“I’m appalled at myself for actually living in this boho-infused shithole for more than a month.”, he chuckled and let himself be led through the airport towards the parking lot. 

When they got into Auguste’s S-Class the older brother turned on his camera again and turned it towards Laurent whose hand ran through the blonde hair framing his face loosely. 

“You won’t give up ‘til you’ve got something I’m guessing.”, the younger one sighed and grabbed the camera, still keeping it turned on himself. “Then at least start driving. I’m starving.”

“Yep.”, Auguste let his lips pop the p and grinned but he complied and started up the car. “So how are you feeling now that filming will begin next week?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”, Laurent smiled, his voice calm and collected. After all, this video was for the public so technically it was work. He’d never understand how Auguste could share every part of his self so willingly with strangers.

“But mostly I’m happy to be able to get annoyed by you again. It’s been a long time since we’ve lived together. Although I’ll always miss the big apple. Gotta love that city.”, he added when Auguste shot him an accusing glare. 

“I’ve missed our karaoke nights.”, Auguste responded turning on the radio and wiggling his eyebrows at the camera.

“No.”, Laurent protested and shook his head at the beat of ‘Take on Me’ starting but couldn’t contain a grin. He hated how Auguste always brought out his true self even if he was being filmed and knew this was going up later.

“ _Talking away…”_ , Auguste started off the first verse and Laurent kept himself silent until the chorus started where he suddenly started belting in true de Vere fashion.

“... _in a day or twooooooo”_

They finished the song and burst into laughter, Laurent’s chest warming as he started to feel at home although he was in the place he’d least wished to be.

Auguste turned the camera off when he had finally caught his breath again. They spent the rest of the drive talking about their last few months without any filming. Just the two of them on their own, finally reunited after almost half a year of being on the other side of the country.

After they arrived at Auguste’s house Laurent had carried his suitcase into one of the guestrooms (with a whole ass ensuite) before returning to the kitchen to grab himself a bowl of cereal. 

Auguste was lounging on the couch and not paying much attention to his brother until he heard a notification coming from his phone and he propped himself up on one arm to look at his little brother.

“What is it?”, Laurent mumbled without stopping crunching the cereal. 

“I almost forgot to tell you. We’ve cast a Lamen last week. His name’s Damen. You can look him up his @ is justdamianos.”, Auguste said casually and Laurent sighed typing in ‘Damianos’ on his Instagram only to find the profile @justdamianos.

When he opened the profile up he almost choked on his cereal, his eyes tearing up. The guy was neither an actor nor a singer his profile looked like that of a fitness model. Tons of shirtless pics exposed tan skin and muscles everywhere on his feed.

“Are you shitting me? How much autotune would you like to use? Yes?”, he finally spit out when he regained his breath and stared at his brother in disbelieve. 

“He actually already had some acting gigs and we obviously had him send in an audition vid. He’s fine don’t worry.”, Auguste shrugged before he turned to face his brother with all his attention.

“Although he looks more than fine doesn’t he.”, he added to Laurent’s discomfort and the younger one of the two made a show of grimacing at his brother.

“I am offended that you doubt my professionalism that much.”, Laurent said dryly and locked his phone, pointedly shoving it back into his pocket. “Plus, I thought you were straight, how are you even able to judge whether he’s hot or not?”

“Common don’t play that card, I know your type baby bro.”, Auguste pouted trying his best to look innocent which didn’t exactly work on 31 year old’s face anymore.

“You know nothing about my type.”, Laurent let out a huffed and grabbed his bowl of cereal. He definitely didn’t like where this conversation was going so he was already readying himself to storm up the stairs like he had during his preteens.

“Remember that one time you forgot to delete the search history on MY laptop.”, Auguste began a satisfied smirk on his face when he realized he’d won. Laurent took that sentence as his cue and sprinted up the stairs, locking the door of his guest room behind him.

That was a memory he didn’t need to relieve. When he had been 13 and his parents hadn’t allowed him to have his own laptop he’d snuck into Auguste’s room, stolen his brother’s laptop and looked up gay porn. Needless to say, it was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life when Auguste confronted him about the search history a day later.

He ended up unpacking his suitcase hurriedly to try and keep himself occupied before he would die of embarrassment until everything was neatly folded and placed in the closet. 

Realizing he’s finished Laurent let himself fall down on the bed and pulled out his phone again. It wouldn’t hurt to do a little research on his co-star, after all, they were supposed to work together for the next few months.

He looked through the feed at the videos of Damen bench pressing an impressive amount of weight and ended up downloading Tik Tok just to look at more content of him.

Honestly, who above 18 even used Tik Tok unironically? Damen, apparently, did. There were tons of videos of him attempting some weird dances, usually with revealing or almost no clothing. Between all the thirst traps were some actual funny gems but they were mainly overshadowed by the weird dances Laurent couldn’t wrap his head around.

Still, when he felt his body demand sleep after the stressful day of traveling his mind drifted off to the cute dimple on Damen’s left side whenever he smiled or laughed at one of his one jokes in the Tik Tok videos. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of filming. Damen and Laurent meet for the first time. And oops Damen is pining. Nikandros is done with Damen's shit™.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There I go again! This time it's Damen's point of view.
> 
> But yeah, enjoy!

_Damen's POV_

“Honestly, Damen, what the fuck?”, Nikandros blurted out and shoved his phone into Damen’s face who tried his best not to run them off the road at that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to arrive on set in one piece.”, he replied with a sigh as he pushed his best friend's arm back to the passenger side. “But you can tell me.”

“As your best friend I wouldn’t but as your manager, I have to.”, Nik openly debated and looked at Damen concerned. “I can’t believe you’re letting her do this. She’s posted an engagement picture. It’s only been a month after you’ve officially broken up.”

“Yeah well, I don’t like talking down other people. She’ll get bullied.”, Damen weakly protested as he drew up in the parking space of the studio. He was too aware of Jokaste’s online presence. He’d never admit it but he spent each night looking at her pictures shoveling tubs of ice cream into his face that Nik would surely kill him for if he ever found out.

“You’re looking like a cuck. You haven’t even posted a statement.”, Nik pressed, his stern look slowly turning into something softer. “Look, I know you haven’t been dealing with this well. But it’s really starting to look weird.”

“I’ll think about it.”, he desperately wished for this conversation to be over in that moment. So desperately that he’d have agreed to anything Nik could demand now but luckily his manager got the mindset and stopped pestering about it.

Instead Nik dragged his best friend out of the car and into the studio, trading in his and Damen’s ID for 2 customized studio passes before they were let in.

Damen simply followed Nik’s familiar figure through the overwhelmingly broad halls towards what appeared to be his dressing room. He set down his things and looked at the mirror for a second satisfied with the reflection.

As far as he knew today they’d kick off with some read-throughs and getting to know each other. Grey tracksuit pants and a tight dark red tank top seemed dressed up enough for that occasion. 

Or at least that’s what he thought until Nikandros guided him towards the circle of chairs and he saw a figure standing and talking next to Auguste. The slim blonde man wore actual dressing pants and a short-sleeved button-down that fit him exquisitely. 

While Damen was busy feeling underdressed and self-conscious Nikandros next to him rolled his eyes and took a seat on the side.

“There he is the Lamen to our Charls.”, Auguste grinned and shuffled Damen onto a chair with his characters name on it, the man he’d just been staring at sitting down next to him. 

Damen was already used to Auguste’s enthusiastic nature although he’d never actually seen him in a professional setting. Ever since the evening they met at some socializing event they had taken up regularly drinking together but never more than that.

“I still can’t believe you’re letting some hobo play this role.”, a voice from next to Damen spoke cooly. Immediately he could see Nik on the side tensing up, ready to fight for his client’s honor. 

“Laurent, please keep it civil.”, Auguste snickered before he let himself fall down into the director’s chair. Damen had seen videos of his co-star, he unarguably had the voice of an angel but Nik hadn’t handed out his name or socials. 

Now, as he was taking in Laurent’s facial features Damen suddenly knew why. He looked ethereal, pale skin against the golden strands of hair falling out of a loose bun. Blue eyes looked right into his soul when Laurent turned to face him.

“I’m sorry.”, he didn’t sound sincere but Damen honestly couldn’t care less when presented with such obvious beauty. A professional smile grazed Laurent’s soft pink lips as he spoke again. “Let’s do this.”

Damen was at a loss for words so he nodded, feeling Nikandros’ warning gaze almost burn a hole into his side. 

They went through the scenes easily enough and Laurent dramatically feigned shock whenever Damen got through one without stumbling over any sentences. 

“I’m not illiterate.”, he wanted to hiss, but not a single sound wanted to leave his lips. His anger was remedied the second Laurent hummed the first note of his ‘want song’. 

After two hours of going through the script eliminating any questions any of the cast had, Damen felt slumped. His eyes wandered to his right where Laurent was sitting, his back still straight, his brows furrowed in concentration as he jotted down something in his issue of the script. 

Damen tried his best to copy him, straightening his posture that had mimicked Auguste's who was leisurely lounging in his director’s chair as expected of someone everything had been handed to all his life. It took all of his willpower to keep his head up at this point.

“Let’s take a break guys. Awesome work.”, Auguste clapped his hands half an hour later and Damen almost collapsed in his chair already feeling tired. This was already way harder than spending a whole day in the gym lifting weights and posing for some content.

Laurent stood up gracefully and walked over to a table with food and drinks to grab himself some water. It was only when Nik elbowed him to the side that Damen realized he was staring. 

“Can you promise to forget what your dick is telling you just while you’re working on this project?”, Nik seemed tired as he sat down on Laurent’s chair. 

“You could’ve told me. I would’ve prepared myself.”, Damen countered and crossed his arms in front of his chest tensing his muscles as he felt blue eyes on him for a short moment.

“By jerking off on his pictures?”, Nik scoffed and shook his head before realizing Damen’s posture and visibly having to restrain himself from punching his best friend in the face right that second. “Are you… have you already forgotten what I literally just asked of you?”

“Have you forgotten how you begged me to finally hook up with someone so I stop sulking?”, Damen grinned and earned himself a fist on his biceps that landed harsher than expected. “Ow!”

“I don’t care who you fuck-”, Nikandros started, his voice a hiss only audible to Damen. “Unless it’s the company or the company’s little brother.”

Realization dawned on Damen’s face and Nik seemed satisfied with the result. Damen had heard thousands of stories of Auguste’s little brother even in the short time the two of them had been somewhat friends. He’d also heard of the threats Auguste posed on everyone who even so much as looked at Laurent without the intent of walking down the altar. 

Suddenly everything was all too obvious. The way Laurent didn’t seem to get along with anyone else, the blonde hair, the blue eyes. How Auguste hadn’t fired him for the first remark towards Damen. 

“Guess we’re talking now. Great. Let me put it simply. The next months you are not getting into those pants. Understood?”, Nik grinned, pleased with himself for seemingly getting Damen under control for once. Damen in return nodded silently, except for a tiny gulp.

The rest of the day was spent by Damen trying his best to ignore Laurent next to him all the while proving he could be just as professional although he was failing miserably at both. 

At the end of the day when Damen and Nik were ready to walk out the door and go home they were stopped by Laurent who was leaning against the door, supposedly waiting for Auguste. 

“Guess you’re not so bad.”, there was visible restraint in Laurent’s pretty face as he basically gritted out the words. Damen couldn’t help a grin creeping on his face at what he took as a compliment.

“But you’ll need some more vocal coaching for those high notes unless you want the editors to die trying to autotune you.”, Laurent added dryly before he pulled out a business card and put it in Damen’s hands. 

“If you hit me up I’ll send you some videos and online classes or I could refer you to someone though most people I know and trust live on the east coast.”, the blonde shrugged and pushed himself off the wall as Auguste made his way over.

“Um… okay… Thanks?”, Damen muttered and was pulled into a loose hug by Auguste, his hand slapping Damen’s broad back gently in typical ‘bro’ fashion. 

“See you tomorrow.”, when Auguste said the words he was already in the door, dragging Laurent behind him who gave Damen and Nik a small wave.

“I’m fucked.”, Damen let out under his breath not able to remove his gaze from Laurent until the door closed behind him. If Damen had still needed a name to describe his type he would’ve named it ‘Laurent’.

“You will be if you don’t keep it in your pants.”, Nik added and put a hand on Damen’s shoulder, the following squeeze felt soothing as if his best friend actually felt something similar to empathy.

“I don’t think you even have to worry. He looks at me like I’m a man child.”, Damen let out a sigh and tucked the business card still in his hand in his pocket. How could he go from hung up on Jokaste to helplessly pining over his co-star in one day?

“Aren’t you though?”, his best friend laughed gesturing at his outfit and Damen pouted at him. He was used to be able to just throw on gym clothing in the morning not having to care how it looked except for on-camera and Nik knew that all too well.

“I’ll be your wingman if you still want him after the premiere.”, Nik added more seriously when they reached Damen’s car after walking through the parking lot in silence. 

“I don’t think I’ll survive until then.”, Damen groaned as he got into the driver’s seat and let his head sink towards the steering wheel. 

“Remind me why I’m working with you again?”, while Nik’s words had their usual sarcastic ring towards them his eyes betrayed the tiniest bit of pity he felt at his best friend’s misery.

“Because you love me and we make bank together.”, Damen lifted his head to grin at the man next to him his spirits somewhat lifted by knowing he had an ally at his side.

“Something like that.”, Nik replied a genuine smile spreading all over his face which made the grown man look just like he had when the both of them were kids sneaking out at night to go to the beach and get up to some mischief.

They spent the rest of the drive in comfortable silence listening to some music. Damen lost in thoughts about Laurent and blue eyes looking at him in ridicule, something that shouldn’t turn him on as much as it did and Nik on the passenger seat writing E-Mails to some of his employees, a hum leaving his lips every now and then.

Overall it appeared to be a successful first day of the project as long as you left Laurent out of the equation. The picture Damen had posted of his chair on set was already blowing up, Auguste had seemed to be pleased with everyone’s performance and (except for Laurent, again) Damen got along perfectly well with everyone involved.

If there just weren’t that part of his mind trying to take control of his sanity whenever he saw a blonde, especially one as gorgeous as the guy he was supposed to keep his cool around for months to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me up until now and reading til the end!
> 
> I'm kinda unsure if I should keep updating as soon as I finish the chapters or actually start saving them and put them up on a schedule in case my school decides to finally get a grip on the whole online lessons thing. Let me know what you'd like best!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damen is flirting? with Laurent who in turn is jumping to conclusions. Way to go boo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so since I don't know who of you is a musical theatre nerd I've included links to songs of the characters mentioned so you can listen to them (like for 20 secs should be enough to get the idea).
> 
> Disclaimer: Laurent might be insecure in terms of Auguste and he also might be projecting onto Damen even if in reality he's just as talented and beautiful as both of them!

_Laurent's POV_

At 6 in the morning, Laurent’s alarm went off snapping him out of his blissful deep sleep and into reality. He dragged himself out of the covers and into the bathroom connected to the guest room or as Auguste now insisted ‘his bedroom’. 

A look in the mirror confirmed what Laurent had feared when he realized he’d fallen into bed without braiding his hair. Blonde strands were all over the place standing into the weirdest of directions. Suddenly this had turned into a day where he needed to wash his hair.

But he didn’t beat himself up too much about it. After work, he and Auguste had gone for an evening run and afterward Laurent was simply too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Damned be his big brother and the long legs genes he had inherited. 

When he got out of the shower again he wrapped a towel around his head, his hair wasn’t exceptionally long yet, just a little bit longer than his chin but it still got annoying when it was wet and clung to his face. He noticed that the dark rings under his eyes were almost nonexistent and smiled, a bit too pleased with himself.

With heightened spirits, he got dressed and made his way down to the kitchen where he prepared coffee and scrambled eggs with vegetables for himself and Auguste.

His older brother must’ve been woken by either the noise or the smell, either way, a grungy Auguste entered the kitchen in his pajamas and plopped onto one of the chairs at the island. 

“For me?”, he slurred and didn’t even wait for Laurent to answer him before grabbing the coffee mug with his face on it. Had it been anyone else, owning a coffee mug of yourself would’ve been weird but Auguste’s had been a gift from their mum. 

Laurent smiled when he compared the 17-year-old on the mug to his brother with unruly hair and stubbles from his beard shimmering through. Looking back he’d looked like a barbie doll, nowadays at least he looked human.

Auguste would still need a few minutes until he’d be able to keep up a conversation so Laurent decided to check his phone, only to find he had 7 unread messages from an unknown number.

_[11:38 pm] Hey Laurent!_

_[11:38 pm] Ready for them singing vids :)_

_[11:40 pm] It’s me btw :)_

_[11:41 pm] Damen, it’s Damen._

_[00:46 pm] Found a few of your performances. Classic_ [ _Evan_ ](https://youtu.be/RKP9UdIcXFk?t=102) _although I liked_ [ _Anatole_ ](https://youtu.be/pt0rWqLqZjE?t=153) _best ;)_

_[00:48 pm] You’re really good. I’m looking forward to working with you :)_

_[00:56 pm] You must be sleeping already. Sorry if I bothered you_

For a second Laurent wanted to turn back time only to strangle his former self. What in all hell had moved him to give Damen his card again? He remembered the second he caught sight of Damen’s profile picture. That fucking dimple.

He bit his lip to keep any reaction out of his face. Even if Auguste was still half asleep he’d surely notice any overly joyous smile on Laurent’s face and then he’d want to know what had brought it on. 

While shoving some egg into his mouth he pressed the new contact button on his phone and typed in ‘Damen Work’. Before he could start thinking about what he wanted to reply he was interrupted by Auguste returning to the realm of the living.

“God how I’ve missed you forcing me to eat healthy.”, a moan left the older man’s lips as he bolted the food on his plate. 

“Slow down. I don’t want you throwing up”, Laurent rolled his eyes and pushed his phone back into the pockets of his slacks the motion didn’t go unnoticed by Auguste though.

“Anything interesting on the socials?”, he mumbled between bites and immediately froze. “That reminds me.”

His brother pulled out his own phone and took a picture of the kitchen island with their food on it. “Starting the day off right…”, he read aloud before posting it to his Instagram story and putting the phone away again.

“You’re insufferable sometimes. That’s literally an addiction.”, Laurent scoffed and took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee, tasting the sweetness of stevia on his lips.

“I’m not addicted!”, Auguste protested and threw his arms up in the air. “But other than you I actually give the fans what they want.”

“Most of you hardcore fans are in their 30s now anyways. I doubt they watch your stories.”, Laurent said cooly and raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

“You’d be surprised. Plus I’ve gained tons of teen fans since the movie was announced. They’re actually doing edits calling me ‘daddy’”, Auguste puffed out his chest in an attempt to brag but Laurent almost spit out his coffee.

“I don’t think you should be proud of that.”, he laughed as soon as he could trust himself to not choke on his drink.

“Whatever.”, his brother feigned annoyance and returned to the last bits leftover on his plate before eyeing Laurent’s still half full one.

Wordlessly Laurent pushed his plate over giving Auguste permission to finish what was left before he started cleaning up the pans he had used to prepare breakfast.

The rest of the morning went by in a haze. Laurent hadn’t stopped thinking about how to reply to Damen. He still hadn’t gotten around to it when they arrived at the studio.

To his surprise, Damen was already there talking to Nikandros who sat on a chair with his laptop opened before him. There was no hint of tiredness on his face which, considering the time stamp of his messages the night before, left Laurent in awe. 

Had he even thought about not getting at least 8 hours of sleep he would’ve looked like something right out of a horror movie. 

Damen’s eyes flicked up towards Laurent and he could’ve sworn he saw just a glint of hurt in there that left him feeling guilty the first half of the day. It wasn’t made better by the fact that they didn’t actually talk to each other except for practicing their lines or acting them out for the camera.

During their lunch break, Auguste abandoned Laurent when he got some important phone call, leaving him alone with his sad looking salad.

He caught sight of Damen, as if he could’ve looked anywhere else, and once again couldn’t help feeling at least a tiny bit jealous of the bowl of pasta in his lap. Clearly Damen had won the genetic lottery, just as Auguste had, while Laurent felt once more that he had lost.

When one of Damen’s spaghetti landed on his shirt Laurent finally mustered up some courage to walk over and sit down next to him. 

“You’ve got something there.”, he commented and felt Nikandros’ judgemental look on him before the manager turned back to his screen, apparently deciding to ignore the pair next to him.

“I’m…”, Damen looked startled before he hastily pulled off the spaghetti and tried to rub off the red stain the sauce left on his white shirt. 

“You’re making it worse.”, Laurent shook his head in a sigh and reached for one of the paper tissues laid out on the table to press it to Damen’s chest. “There you go.”

“Thanks.”, Damen mumbled his face turning from slightly flustered to unsure as he looked at Laurent with his huge dark puppy eyes. “You haven’t replied to my messages.”

“Um…”, now it was Laurent’s turn to be flustered, although he did his best to fight it and actually succeeded in containing the heat rising to his cheeks. “I haven’t come around to it yet. But I’ve read them.”

They fell silent for an uncomfortably long moment and both decided at the same time it would be a good idea to eat something now. Laurent, again, jealously looking at Damen’s food.

“In case you were wondering Evan was actually the role I liked best.”, Laurent started when he finished chewing. He’d never been good at small talk with strangers and Damen's looks didn’t exactly help the situation.

“I can see that.”, Damen seemed to ease up the second Laurent had opened his mouth and a smile crept over his lips, the dimple on his left cheek showing again. 

“So what brought on the career change?”, Laurent inquired, averting his gaze from the dimple in an attempt to keep a somewhat levelheaded mind.

“What?”, Damen looked confused as if he wasn’t expecting any more actual conversation but he caught himself soon enough. “Yeah that. Um, my ex. She actually pushed me to go to a few auditions. I realized it was fun and here I am.”

It felt as if someone had taken all of Laurent’s hopes tied them up and was now thrashing them relentlessly. He should’ve known Damen was straight. At least he wouldn’t be distracted by something as minor as feelings now that he knew.

“Here you are. No training, just fun.”, Laurent let out in a huff before forcing a smile to his face that he was sure wouldn’t reach his eyes. Lashing out was the only defense he knew even if he had to keep it down to ‘establish a good working environment’.

“You seem like you could use a little fun sometimes.”, Damen gritted back and Laurent looked at him with a raised brow. That guy didn’t just call him stuck up, did he? He’d never have taken Damen for someone to fight back.

“Oh, I’m sorry if my work ethic has interfered with your fun.”, he basically spat out the last word and before Damen could say something that would have Laurent unable to restrain himself from strangling a coworker he rushed off to his dressing room.

Halfway through the halls, Laurent bumped into Auguste. His brother was still on the phone gesturing violently with his hands even though the person on the other line wasn’t able to see it but when he noticed Laurent he fell silent and furrowed his brows.

‘What’s up?’, his brother mouthed and Laurent sighed knowing there was no escaping one of Auguste’s famous talks if he fled now.

“Just needed that rookie out of my face.”, he shrugged and moved further into the direction of the dressing rooms. Auguste excused him with a wave of his hand not without shooting his little brother a knowing look though.

The second the door of the dressing room shut behind Laurent tension fell from his shoulders. He let himself sink down on a sofa in the corner and closed his eyes.

Laurent knew that the anger he felt still rumbling in his stomach wasn’t directed at his co-star. This whole situation was his own doing if you didn’t count Auguste casting Damen in the first place.

It had been stupid of him to let himself stalk Damen on the socials. It had been even more stupid to let himself indulge in sweet little fantasies. And it had been the single most stupid thing to give Damen his business card, the one with his phone number on it.

Laurent took out his phone and with one last look at Damen’s feed and a ton of mustered up self-control he pressed the button he usually used more often than the like one. 

_‘You’ve blocked the user @justdamianos. They won’t be able to find your profile, posts or stories on Instagram.’_

He felt his stomach clench at the message on his screen even if he knew it was for the best. Having blocked Damen would keep him from scrolling through the pictures of rock hard abs, flexing muscles and glistening tan skin. The sooner he got the images out of his head, the sooner he would be able to deal with working with Damen.

Or so he thought. The next month proved him wrong. Because Damen had no sense of decency left. It wasn’t just enough to show up on set in sinfully tight clothing the guy had to change in front of the whole crew as well because ‘The dressing room’s too far, we’d waste time.’.

Luckily Damen had at least gotten the hint and after Laurent sent him some links to vocal coaches he’d stopped messaging him. They hadn’t talked during breaks since the last time and everything had turned somewhat normal ever since.

Everyone had found their place and routine. Laurent was still orbiting around Auguste during every second of free time, not that it hadn’t been like that their whole lives anyway. 

In the meantime, Damen was all over the place his personality, similar to Auguste’s, left him chatting with a different group of people every time Laurent caught sight of him.

While Laurent was busy trying to ignore Damen to the best of his abilities Damen put in three times the effort of everyone else and improved rapidly. As always Laurent couldn’t help to be envious of the natural talent everyone around him seemed to possess while it had taken himself years of daily training to get where he was today.

“And that’s on being wrapped up for today.”, Auguste joyfully exclaimed after another day of filming the same take over and over again until Mr. Director, lounging around in his chair, was satisfied with the results.

Everyone simultaneously let out an exhausted sigh as the cameras were shut off and everything seemed to return to a slower pace. 

“I think I want to do the ending scene tomorrow.”, Auguste announced when everyone was out of costume and waiting around the studio to be dismissed. Laurent’s eyes widened as he stared at his brother. 

Everyone else seemed pleased with the announcement. Meanwhile Laurent was freaking out. He knew it was coming, he wasn’t that oblivious or naive, but he’d hoped to have some more time to prepare. 

“We haven’t even done half of the other scenes.”, he protested when the room was clearing out trying his best to hide any physical signs of his discomfort at the thought of having to do _that_ scene with Damen.

“It’s not about order, baby bro. My muse is telling me-”, Auguste’s face had that condescending look on it that came from growing up as the famous first child. The one where everyone still found it shocking that their parents' genes had been passed on.

At moments like this Laurent sometimes wished for nothing more than to wipe that look off of Auguste’s pretty face.

He loved and adored his brother more than anything in the world but now that he was an adult as well the look seemed demeaning and insulting though Auguste never intended it to and that just made it worse.

“Your muse isn’t telling you shit. You’re just getting bored.”, Laurent interrupted him his bottom lip twitching traitorously. Who was he kidding, Auguste would see through him right that second.

“You’re doing it again.”, his older brother’s smile turned soft, blue eyes sparking concern. “Why don’t you calm down and tell what’s the real issue over dinner.”

Laurent kept silent. He kept silent throughout their drive home and during dinner. His mind didn’t stop running around, imagining all possible scenarios that could happen tomorrow. 

Luckily Auguste kept silent too simply looking at Laurent with furrowed brows every once in a while. Laurent could tell he knew something was up. Laurent could also tell he had connected the dots as much as to realize it might have something to do with the content of the scene.

If only there was a way Laurent could get out of this he would’ve taken it in an instant. Instead, he read through the stage directions over and over again before going to bed and lying awake for hours until he finally drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess why Damen liked Anatole best? That's right 'cause [he's hot](https://youtu.be/WATeMcaRFfA?t=150) (just like Laurent).
> 
> Anyways I surprised myself with the length of this chapter (~2,700 words damn?) but it basically wrote itself.
> 
> As always, thanks for sticking with me up until here!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damen fucks up on set because he just can't resist Laurent. Auguste is annoyed and gives them a speech. Nik and Damen workout but Damen fucks up again (you guessed it) because of Laurent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided on a formatting for their texts:
> 
> the one the chapter's pov is in is on the right  
> the other one is on the left 
> 
> Hope that makes sense and um yeah, enjoy!

_Damen's POV_

It had taken several pep talks from Nikandros for Damen to recover from finding out he had, in fact, been blocked by Laurent on Instagram. He didn’t get what he’d done wrong and he desperately wanted to know. 

Talking to Laurent had felt nice until things had turned upside down and Damen had been left with staring after him as he’d stormed off.

However, Laurent ignoring him did wonders for his performance at work. The only time his co-star looked at him was during their scenes together and Damen was determined to prove himself.

While Nik definitely had noticed the sudden change in Damen’s attitude he hadn’t commented on it yet. After all, Damen’s work ethic was right were Nik had tried to get it for years now.

Today they would shoot the final scene, the one with the grand romantic gesture. Damen was oddly nervous because he was well aware of what was to come. 

The whole movie only had two kisses scripted for the two main characters. The first somewhat chaste one on the first date and the second that they would shoot today.

“I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life…”, he quietly rehearsed his lines once more while three girls had his hands on him to get his hair and makeup done. Nik who was sitting on the side typing something on his keyboard snorted. 

“Kinda sounds like it’s been taken out of a 14-year-old's daydreams.”, his best friend joked drawing a laugh out of Damen that earned him glares from 3 pairs of eyes. He tried his best to keep still as he gestured to his body.

“You don’t think I’m daydream material?”, he faked a sob that resulted in perfectly done nails digging into his scalp. He hissed at the pain but refrained from complaining when the stylist shot him another glare.

“I just prefer people with a brain.”, Nik’s apologetic expression was as fake as the id he’d gifted Damen during their first week in the states when Damen had still been 20 and Nik had gotten bored of going out alone.

When Laurent’s head popped into the dressing room five minutes later luckily the girls had finished so Damen didn’t have to feel their wrath when he jumped in his chair at the familiar voice.

“Just wanted to let you know that I’d appreciate it if your hands wouldn’t trap my face. I’m cool with the usual stuff though.”, Laurent declared and it took Damen a whole minute to get that he was talking about their kiss and that he was waiting for a similar statement from his co-star.

“I’ll keep it in mind. I’m cool with everything too I guess as long as you don’t hurt me.”, Damen shrugged trying to keep his mind from straying too far off at the thought of Laurent kissing him. 

With a simple nod, Laurent disappeared again and when Damen saw him again he was already in front of the cameras talking to Auguste about angles or something and looked completely unfaced.

Damen himself was doing his best to refrain from shaking and tried to focus on the lines playing over and over again in his head.

“Great so that’s the stage, we need you to stand on the red mark as always but you can move inside of the black lines if you need to.”, Auguste started to explain as he noticed Damen and pointed to markings on the floor of the prop.

“The audience and all that jazz will be added in post-production. For now, just imagine it. Let’s do a run-through first. I’ll let the camera’s run but don’t worry about them they’re just on in case they catch something spectacular.”, the director went on and whenever Auguste got like that it was hard for Damen to remember the way he had looked drunk and on the floor once.

Damen messed up parts of his big speech that was essentially a song but with a wave from Auguste the scene continued until he was grabbing Laurent’s hand and pulling him up on the stage.

“Charls, forgive me for being an idiot. I’m in love with you and I want the world to know.”, he declared, his eyes on Laurent whose blue eyes were widening on command. 

The cameras moved closer and surely they must have caught Damen’s heartbeat on there when their faces moved closer to one another. 

Damen was enveloped with the smell of sandalwood, probably Laurent’s shampoo, and felt his own hand moving up into the silky blonde hair he’d wanted to touch ever since the second he’d first seen it.

“I forgive you.”, Laurent whispered before he pressed his soft lips onto Damen’s. The kiss deepened just seconds later, their whole bodies pressing together tightly. Damen could’ve sworn his legs might give out any moment from now.

The camera’s disappeared into the back of his mind just as the crew watching did. His mind was filled with Laurent. When Laurent pulled away he pushed towards him chasing the sensation that was left on his lips.

Laurent gave in momentarily and wrapped his arms around Damen’s neck pulling him even closer than they had been before. Caught up in the moment Damen gently pushed his tongue into Laurent’s already open mouth. He tasted sweet as if he’d eaten candy seconds earlier.

Suddenly Laurent tensed up against Damen and pulled back slowly his lips still parted as he let out a tiny breath. Damen himself was almost panting, shocked at what a simple fake kiss was already doing to him.

“And cut!”, Auguste’s voice sounded from behind the cameras and Laurent’s expression changed to an accusing glare in the blink of an eye.

“What the fuck was that?”, the blonde hissed and turned towards Auguste to ask for a break by a simple show of hands.

“I thought-”, Damen started but immediately stopped when Laurent gave him a questioning look and crossed his arms before his chest.

“You thought what? I said I was cool with the _usual_ stuff. Who the fuck uses tongue when not explicitly discussed?”, he groaned and turned towards his older brother who shot the younger one an apologetic look.

“That’s what you get from casting an influencer. Thanks a lot, Auguste.”, his slender hands ran over his face and through the golden hair Damen had touched just a minute ago.

“Look I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I should’ve done more research. I swear I won’t do it again. What can I do to make it up to you?”, Damen started to ramble. As always he wasn’t able to keep his thoughts or feelings to himself. 

“It’s fine. I just need a coffee.”, Laurent muttered, turned around and left to grab himself a coffee from the food and drink table by the side. Damen could’ve sworn he saw a blush on his cheeks though.

Was he already projecting feelings onto Laurent now? This whole movie thing had been a bad idea. Jokaste had been a bad idea. Ever since he came to America all Damen seemed to have was bad ideas. 

When Laurent got back there was an uncomfortable tension in the air that left Auguste unsatisfied with every single take they shot. Damen couldn’t bring himself to relax into any of the following kisses even though Laurent’s lips still felt like heaven on earth on his. 

Laurent on the other hand, ever the professional, shut off any personal feelings of discomfort around Damen and carried on as before. The only sign of Laurent’s uneasiness where hands running through his hair whenever the cameras got shut off and ruining the stylists’ work who in turn rushed over whenever they broke apart to fix what already looked perfect to Damen. 

At the end of the day a frustrated Auguste dismissed everyone with a short. “We’re taking tomorrow off!” before turning towards Damen and Laurent who were both already grabbing their things in an attempt to rush off. 

“Not you two.”, Auguste’s voice was calm and professional. “I don’t know what the whole deal is with you since even my baby brother doesn’t want to talk to me but you need to work on it.”

Damen glanced at Laurent sideways he looked smaller than usual somewhat scrunched by the aura of a stern Auguste. At right this exact moment Damen could easily imagine them growing up together or Auguste in his 20s fighting for custody of a teenaged Laurent for 2 whole years. 

“The first take was your best one but we can’t use all of it. Plus I’m sure you can do better. There should be fireworks. The viewers are supposed to _feel_ the chemistry.”, Auguste sighed and pulled out his phone typing frantically for some time. Neither Laurent nor Damen dared to speak. 

“So, I’ve arranged for you two to be going to Disney together. Laurent can take one of my cars and pick you up. Work this thing out so we can get back to filming.”, he paused for just a moment before giving Laurent one last look. “And Laurent, no dropping Damen off and driving right back home. I have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“ _Fine_. Would you excuse us now?” Laurent rolled his eyes and without waiting for an answer made his way to the dressing rooms.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”, Damen muttered at Auguste and brought one of his hands to his neck. He was met with a firm grip on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s what we signed up for. Delay in turn for publicity.”, Auguste’s smile seemed genuine but his expression subtly shifted as he continued. “If you hurt him I’ll kill you.”

The grip on his shoulder got intense and never before in his life had Damen felt as threatened as he did now. Auguste’s face seemed angelic, the only thing betraying his true feelings was a slight twitch in his right eye. 

“I would never…”, Damen let out and felt tension drop from his body when Auguste’s hand left his now slightly hurting shoulder. 

Auguste’s face returned to his usual joyful expression when he said goodbye to Damen and left him standing in the room by himself.

Later that evening Nik had forced Damen to go to the gym with him to get some new content but mainly to get a good workout in.

They had finished their 20-minute warm-up and Damen was pushing the weights on to the leg press. Nik had agreed to leg day after Damen called him ‘on the way of turning to a flamingo’. 

While Damen got himself ready Nik had taken his phone and took several videos of their reflections in the mirror. When Damen noticed he flashed a wide smile at the camera and jokingly posed by flexing his muscles beneath the tight gymshark shirt and loose workout shorts he was wearing.

“You’re the worst.”, Nik laughed as he put his phone away again and leaned on a cable machine next to them. 

“At least I’m not a pussy afraid of leg day.”, he snickered as he let himself sink down and readied himself for his sets. 

“Do you even lift bro?”, his best friend added dryly and Damen waited until he was sure enough his laughter was finished before pushing the security handle off.

They each went through 2 sets before Nik went and got another two 50kg weights he put onto the machine for Damen. 

“You’re trying to kill me. I have to be walking around Disneyland tomorrow.”, he protested weakly but he knew there was no use. Nik would, as always, relentlessly push him to new heights without accepting anything less than he asked for. That’s what made him so good at his job.

Without further protesting Damen readied himself again and started his last set. He struggled, every rep leaving his thighs and glutes shaking, but it was a pleasant enough kind of struggle until Nik dropped a bomb on him.

“Speaking of Disney, ‘Laurent 😇’ just texted you.”, Nik said as if it wasn’t the singlehandedly most unlikely thing to happen.

Damen immediately moved to set down the weights to snatch his phone from Niks hand. He was stopped by 400 kg rushing towards him though because in his hurry he had forgotten to pull the safety handle back in place. 

A groan escaped him as he pushed the weights up from an angle that made his knees hurt and his muscles burn even more. Nik had already reacted by putting the safety handle where it belonged and looked at Damen partly unimpressed partly concerned. 

“You okay? You could’ve dislocated your knees that way.”, Nik scolded him and shook his head. Usually, Damen was well aware of all possible dangers but Laurent did things like that to him even if he wasn’t actually in the building.

Damen nodded but when he stood up he had to grit his teeth together in an attempt not to scream at the pain thrumming in his left hamstring. With a deep breath, he looked into Niks face and grimaced. 

“I think we might have to skip leg day today.”, he let out quietly and reached for his phone inside of Niks pocket.

“Oh for fuck’s sake Damen.”, Nik slapped Damen’s hand and ushered him to the locker rooms where he wet his towel and threw it into Damen’s face. “You’re not getting your phone back until we’ve taken care of that.” 

Damen looked into the mirror and noticed dark bruises forming visibly even on his olive skin. It looked as bad as it felt then.

“It’s just a pulled muscle it’ll be gone in a week or so.”, he muttered under his breath but pressed the towel onto his bruising skin. The cool sensation soothed the burning pain. 

Still, the pain didn’t distract him from the fact that Laurent had texted him. Laurent who had blocked him on Instagram, Laurent who had ghosted him, had texted him first. So he reached out a second time to grab his phone and this time Nik let him.

“You’re whipped. I’m getting Dejavus”, Nik groaned and let himself sink down on one of the benches in the middle of the room. Damen couldn’t care less as he unlocked his phone and helplessly stared at the screen.

_[08:49 pm] I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 8. Care to send me an address?_

It seemed such an impersonal text but Damen could feel his heart jump in his chest. He entered his address and hit sent before he started frantically typing and erasing different messages. 

_But I’m warning you it’ll hard to get me off the coasters once I get started ;) [09:02]_

A few seconds of him staring at Laurent’s profile passed before the ‘online’ tag disappeared and he was, once again, left on read. 

Nik told him a few more times that Laurent didn’t deserve Damen if he treated him that way but Damen didn’t care. He would’ve let Laurent actually step on him and he still would’ve smiled at how beautiful his golden framed face looked.

Nik had driven him home and taken his car since Damen didn’t trust himself to drive with his pulled muscle anyway and as always he had picked Nik up. Nik hated to let time spend commuting go to waste so it had become a tradition somewhere along the line.

At home, Damen threw in a painkiller before limping to his bedroom and letting himself fall into the covers. He snapped a picture over his back, his ass prominent and almost hiding the bruises that had spread even further. 

Satisfied enough with the result, he knew his ass looked good, he uploaded it to Instagram. The caption was longer than usual, he had written about his injury itself before turning towards being careful with weights in general. Most of his followers were young and inexperienced enough to overestimate themselves easily enough.

While he was mindlessly scrolling through all of his other socials Laurent’s name popped up and Damen stopped breathing for just a second.

_[10:12] You’ll be throwing up before you know it if you’re trying to beat my record._

A smile crept on his face and he pressed his phone to his chest in an attempt to calm himself down. Was this even real? 

After he’d fucked up their scene today he almost feared to never see Laurent again, the movie to be dropped or something similarly bad. But apparently Auguste’s speech had been magic or something otherwise he couldn’t explain why Laurent was suddenly making an effort.

He reread the message over and over again while the painkiller worked his wonders on Damen’s body and made him sleepy enough to forget changing out of his workout clothes before he gave into the tiredness swallowing him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so this is another one finished!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading up until now :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damen and Laurent go to Disney, yay! Laurent decides to take Auguste's favorite car because that's just what any good little brother would do (he has to annoy him somehow).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've tried something new by switching POVs mid-chapter because it just felt more natural like this but idk, tell me if it bothers you or something. I've also updated the other chapters so now you see whenever a POV switches (I hope that makes it easier to read).  
> The Disney trip itself will be cut in half because I don't want each new chapter to have 500 words or so more than the last one (bc I won't be able to keep that up for long while updating daily or on a tight schedule).  
> Enjoy!

_ Laurent's POV _

“You don’t mind if I take the Aston do you?”, Laurent popped his head through Auguste’s door at 7:30 and was met by his brother's low grumble. 

“Take what you want.”, the older one mumbled still half asleep and Laurent doubted he knew what he’d just agreed to. But he deserved to treat himself and it really was Auguste’s fault for leaving all his car keys in one place.

Pleased with himself Laurent walked into the massive garage and pulled the cover off his brother’s newest plaything. Being a teen-actor on Disney did come with its perks after all and it wasn’t like Auguste’s career had stagnated afterward.

The custom made  [ DBS Superleggera ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/luxury/2019/10/03/Aston_Martin_DBS_Superleggera_Volante-Xenon_Grey_17-JPG-1_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdGLvJF5WfpqnBZShRL_tOZw.jpg?imwidth=1400) shimmered in a cool sterling blue. Laurent let his hand run over the engine hood before he got in. He rolled his eyes at the obnoxious deep blue leather seats and opened the roof.

Entering Damen’s address proved a challenge when Laurent realized there was a pin set on the infotainment system. He typed in his birthday, and succeeded. A smirk placed itself on his lips Auguste was way too soft for him.

When the garage door opened and Laurent started up the engine he couldn’t resist revving it twice. The car roaring beneath him was loud enough to surely let Auguste realize what he’d allowed Laurent in his daze.

But every attempt at stopping Laurent was too late as he took off with screeching tires. The porter of the gated community recognized the car and immediately opened up the gate for Laurent. He gave him a wave and started off the estimated 25-minute ride to Damen. 

Wind was ruffling through his hair and even the weak morning sun of California made his skin tingle of upcoming sunburn. But nothing could dampen his spirits.

After hours of overthinking yesterday’s happenings he’d come to the conclusion that Damen wouldn’t have slipped his tongue into Laurent’s mouth if he would’ve thought of kissing men as undesirable. 

Laurent hadn’t quite figured out what Damen’s exact deal was yet. He’d found pictures of him with the ex he’d mentioned, Jokaste. Aside from her though, Damen had never posted actual pictures with anyone or they were hidden somewhere where no one had found them yet.

That in itself didn’t indicate much though so Laurent put his assumptions aside and instead focused on Damen’s actual behavior towards him. Maybe he’d missed some signs just because he’d written of Damen as straight.

And if Damen truly was straight then he definitely had the weirdest idea on how kissing or even sex scenes were shot. Which was something Laurent didn’t completely put above him either.

When he realized he still had 10 minutes until 8 he got himself a vanilla frappuccino and a normal iced coffee for Damen since he didn’t know what he liked. The girl handing the drinks over to him gawked at him for a moment too long while she probably tried to figure out what kind of celebrity Laurent was. 

Lucky enough people around here mostly didn’t even know what Broadway was so he didn’t have to fear being recognized at all. Had it been Auguste she probably would’ve dropped the coffee right that second. 

Speaking of Auguste, if he didn’t already want to kill Laurent for taking the Aston out he surely would’ve strangled his little brother for consuming food or drink inside of it. As long as Auguste didn’t know he couldn’t be angry, Laurent thought to himself and shrugged as he placed the cupholder on the armrest carefully. 

_ Damen's POV _

Damen had been standing outside of his apartment building for almost 10 minutes now. He checked his phone once more. 8:04. 4 minutes weren’t that much but he still worried he’d been stood up.

Before he could straight up call Laurent though, he pulled up in what looked like Damen’s income of about a whole year. Dark sunglasses hid the beautiful blue eyes but the blonde hair was messily pushed back by the wind and hands running through it. 

“Auguste is actually loaded.”, he let out as he got in, ignoring the burning pain in his left at sitting down. 

“Courtesy of overly ambitious parents, talent and smart investing.”, Laurent replied with a shrug and passed Damen a cup of iced coffee.

“How exactly do I deserve this?”, he asked Laurent, taking a sip, a refreshingly bitter taste on his tongue. Damen should’ve thought about getting coffee himself, after all, he was the one who needed to make amends.

“You don’t. I’m just not a monster.”, Laurent chuckled his nose wrinkling the tiniest bit. “Buckle up. And if you spill anything I’ll tell Auguste you bought the coffee and he  _ will  _ kill you.” 

Damen wanted to reply but when he was pressed into the seat as the engine howled every single cell in his body concentrated on keeping the coffee safe. Laurent looked pleased with himself a creamy white liquid of what some might call frappuccino in his right hand. 

“Are you trying to get us killed?”, Damen choked and earned a genuine laugh from Laurent. The wind whirling through his blonde hair made him look like something out of an old Hollywood romance movie.

“Don’t worry I am fully in control here.”, Laurent took a sip of his frappuccino as he followed the street signs towards Anaheim. Damen couldn’t help but notice the speed they were going at seemed to be highly illegal. However, he doubted they would be stopped, Laurent probably wouldn’t let that happen.

“Since you’re the LA native you either tell me where I have to go or put the address in there.”, he added with a gesture towards the big screen in between them.

“You know, I’m not actually native. I moved here five years ago.”, Damen corrected and tried to find out where he had to put in the address on the screen. “I’m Greek.”

Laurent took his eyes off the road for a second then and Damen’s heart stopped. He could swear he’d never felt this unsafe in the passenger side.

“You’re English is very good then.” The compliment made Damen’s heart flutter or maybe it was just the way Laurent took over every single car they met on the highway. 

"Thanks. I just pick up languages quickly I guess.", he replied and tried his best not to blush. It was true, he'd never had problems in school that's why Kastor had turned into the favorite son when he'd turned to Fitness instead of studying something 'useful'. That was until Damen had bought his father a yacht after saving up for 3 years, now they were probably even again.

They fell silent for a while and Laurent turned up some James Bond music which drew out a chuckle from Damen. 

15 minutes into the ride Laurent’s phone started ringing. ‘Call from Auguste incoming.’ the automated voice read out and Damen swore he could see a smirk on Laurent’s face as he answered with a tap to the steering wheel.

“I swear to god if you crash him…”, Auguste's voice came through the speakers and suddenly he got much more relatable when Damen realized he probably named his cars.

“I wouldn’t dare.”, Laurent said dramatically and although Auguste wouldn’t be able to see it he stretched his right leg just enough to make the car jolt forward again.

“He’s a one of a kind. The movie hasn't even been released yet. Do you know to what lengths I had to go to to have him commissioned.”, Auguste whined loudly.

“Well as far as I remember you told me to take what I want.”, Laurent contemplated and took another sip of his frappuccino. The slurp must’ve been audible over the speakers because Auguste lost it.

“Is that a drink? Laurent what the fuck?! Oh, you’re dead. You’re so dead.” Laurent turned the volume down and let his brother rage on. A short “Oops.” escaping his lips. 

“Fucking oops indeed. I’ll swap you’re stevia with sugar and watch you get fat with the amount you put in literally everything.”, Auguste’s voice seemed calmer, although not completely reasonable yet.

“You shouldn’t have told me that. Now I’ll check.”, Laurent remarked looking overly pleased with himself. 

“At least tell me you’ve picked Damen up and are not just somewhere on the road.”, Auguste sighed defeatedly. 

“I have, we’re on our way to our bonding experience right now.”, Laurent reported dryly and ran a hand through his hair that had been pushed into his face by the wind.

“He’s telling the truth. Don’t worry about the car though.”, Damen commented from the side silently wondering what he’d do if Kastor had taken his car with little to no agreement from himself. He would’ve been furious but Auguste seemed a lot closer to Laurent than he was to Kastor so it would probably be fine in the end.

Another sigh was audible from the speakers when Auguste spoke again. “Alright. Laurent, I’m still angry but would you mind taking some pictures. I want to look like a cool boss on the socials.”

“We’ll try. Bye then!”, Laurent brushed Auguste off and already hovered his thumb over the hang-up button. 

“Drive safe.”, Auguste added quietly and hung up himself. Damen could tell it somehow bothered Laurent that he wasn’t the one to prove his independence by hanging up by the way Laurent’s lower lip pushed forward a bit. The movement was almost too small to notice but Damen was watching Laurent all too intently.

“Okay, so, if we don’t actually bond I’m afraid I might still get killed.”, Laurent grimaced as he took the next exit at a speed that had Damen pressed into the door.

“If we aren’t dead before we get back.”, Damen muttered in return as he straightened his posture again. He still couldn’t wrap his head around Laurent’s sudden change in attitude. 

Laurent pulled up in the driveway of a huge hotel a few silent minutes later and stopped next to a serious-looking man. 

“Hello Mr. de Vere. Your brother has already informed us about your arrival. One of our valets will park…”, the man paused for a moment as he eyed the car with furrowed brows. “... _ your _ car in the private garages. I will get you inside afterward your free to go wherever you want.”

“Thanks, Berenger.”, Laurent smiled politely as he got out of the car and waited until Damen had done the same. Before placing the keys in Berenger’s hand he bend over to grab a bag out of the backseat and Damen’s eyes lingered on the curves exposed by tight white slacks. How was he supposed to look anywhere else when exposed to such an exquisite sight?

“A second.”, Laurent said as he fumbled inside the bag and pulled out a tube of sunscreen before pushing the sunglasses up in his air and applying it on his face. Damen was confused for a moment, he himself only ever applied sunscreen if he already had a sunburn, then he realized that Laurent logically needed to be more careful with his soft porcelain skin.

The sunglasses stayed up in his hair for the whole time they walked through the hotel halls and Damen would never have guessed that someone’s hair could look this good ruffled and loosely pushed back. 

Berenger had left them after pushing a map into their hands and wishing them a great day. The map was huge and overwhelmed Damen completely. He’d never been to Disney before because, well, his parents weren’t exactly interested to drive up to Paris for that and Nik had always thought it was childish. 

“What do you want to do first?”, Laurent asked appearing rather unimpressed at their surroundings and the map. 

“I… I don’t know.”, Damen looked at him with wide sparkling eyes. His amazement had to be plastered on his face right now. 

“Hm, rollercoaster you said, right? Why don’t we walk right through here and start off with those three? Then we can do something more relaxed afterward if you need a break.”, Laurent’s slender finger trailed along the map as he spoke and Damen couldn’t do anything but nod. 

_Laurent's POV_

Laurent noticed a slight change in Damen’s posture. The way he walked as if every single step hurt left Laurent’s mind spiraling off to places he didn’t want to explore.

They skipped all the lines thanks to Auguste’s VIP pass and soon enough Laurent’s mind was wiped blank when Adrenaline started to rush through his body.

While Laurent was the type of person to enjoy each ride quietly a shriek escaping him at the most, he soon learned that Damen was one of the people that screamed and laughed at the tiniest bit of acceleration. It would’ve been obnoxious if Damen’s laugh hadn’t been one of the most beautiful sounds Laurent had ever heard.

After around two hours of non-stop rides Damen flinched each time when they got out of the seats. The motion wasn’t lost to Laurent and at some point he decided it might be a good idea to talk about it because Damen didn’t seem like he would complain anytime soon.

“Are you okay? You look like something’s bothering you.”, he sighed as he grabbed Damen, who was already limping away to the next ride, by the shoulder in an attempt to stop him.

“I just pulled a muscle yesterday. Nothing too bad, just, let’s go.”, Damen looked like an overgrown child the way his eyes widened at every single thing. His excitement was slowly rubbing off on Laurent, although he’d never admit it to anyone. 

“Doesn’t look like 'nothing too bad' though. We can take a break, you know? Even if we don’t get to do everything today Auguste will probably give his pass to you so you can go again.”, Laurent tried his best not to look as concerned as he felt.

“I won’t let you win like that.”, Damen protested and Laurent raised his brow. What the fuck was he talking about?

“This is not a competition. I don’t know how you’d get the idea that…”, Laurent stopped when it suddenly dawned on him. Their messages. Damen had taken his attempt at flirting as a challenge. “I’m officially withdrawing my participation now if you’d please just fucking sit down for a moment you’re running around the place like a damn pirate.”

Damen finally let himself sink to a bench and let out a sigh. Laurent sat down next to him and took out his sunscreen again. He’d lost track of time and now another layer was already long overdue unless he wanted his skin to be peeling off his face by the time they left the park. 

“Don’t think this is over. One day I’ll beat you.”, he heard Damen mutter from next to him and turned his head to shoot him an annoyed look. Damen however looked awestruck and leaned forward his body shifting dangerously close to Laurent’s.

“You’ve got sunscreen…”, Damen breathed and his hand reached for Laurent’s jawline. His thumb pressed into Laurent’s sensitive skin and wiped away a drop of white sunscreen. “...right there.”

Laurent’s whole body reacted at the simple touch and before he knew it he found himself jolting up. He felt like he was burning up. 

“Um… I’m gonna go get… some water.”, he pressed out and walked over to one of the food carts. His hand darted up to where Damen’s had been just seconds ago. This wasn’t fair.

Covertly, Laurent glanced back at Damen who was lounging in his dark jean shorts and loose tank that exposed half of his muscular chest. No, he told himself. This was not a date, it was work. 

There was probably no way he’d get through the day without giving in and pulling that gorgeous body closer to his. But even if Damen’s slip up the day before had been because of some kind of attraction to Laurent things could get real bad real fast if he realized Laurent was not as delicate as he looked and then they would end up with an even more awkward tension between them.

So he did his best to calm himself down and shut out any lewd thoughts as he returned to Damen and handed him a cool water bottle. 

“Thanks.”, Damen looked and smiled at him. Laurent couldn’t help but notice his dark eyes had golden specks in them whenever sunlight met them and bit his lip at the thought. How was it possible for someone to be as perfect?

“What do you want to do next?”, Laurent brought himself to ask and Damen took a second to look at the map scrunching his nose in an endearing way as he contemplated.

“Maybe Grizzly River Run? I’m getting kind of hot.”, he offered and looked at Laurent who was taken aback for a moment. He hated the feeling of wet fabric clinging to his skin although he wouldn’t mind seeing Damen- He stopped the thought before he could trail off again and nodded.

They sat there for around 20 minutes more until Damen propped himself up again and declared that he was “ready to rumble.”. Laurent suppressed the snort rising in his throat and followed him as they made their way to their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me and reading up until now!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Water rides are fun. Things are going uphill, maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I go again.  
> This time I haven't taken all that much time to edit because one of my teachers has figured out how to use Teams and now I'm swamped with school work (yay).  
> So if you find any mistakes you may correct them but I wanted to put this chapter up today!  
> As always, enjoy!  
>   
> Edit: shit, I wanted to upload this before I went to sleep so badly and now I've logged in just to see I SAVED it instead 🤦🏻 God I'm so sorry

_ Laurent's _ POV

After skipping the line they were ushered into a raft filled with 5 teenagers who seemed happy to ignore both of them. 

Laurent sat down in the already soaking seat and debated if it was too late to get out now for a second but when he saw Damen’s droopy smile he let himself relax.

Nothing happened for a whole two minutes until suddenly their raft was being pulled uphill. The teens giggled and Laurent felt himself grab the wheel in their middle harder than necessary. 

“Ready?”, Damen teased still fully relaxed against his seat with a wide grin on his face. 

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?”, he grimaced and braced himself to get soaked right after the drop. But the drop didn’t come. Instead, they were softly let down again and now looked over the park.

Laurent took a deep breath and smiled to himself. The smile was swept away suddenly when just behind the next curve everything went downhill. 

Luckily they were facing the water sidewards and when it cascaded over them Damen’s huge body covered Laurent from the worst.

His blonde hair was still damp and his shirt had huge stains on them but that didn’t matter because Damen pushed back his wet curls in a motion that exposed his now glistening biceps. 

Laurent’s heart stopped right at that moment. The loose shirt was soaked and clung to each of Damen’s impeccable muscles while still exposing just the right amount of skin. What he wouldn’t have given to be that shirt right now.

“Look, it wasn’t so bad.”, Damen declared apparently oblivious of the way he was looking.

“Uh-huh.”, Laurent failed to form any coherent words so he just nodded. His whole mind was clouded by olive skin, broad muscles and loose wet curls. 

He was abruptly snapped out of his daydreams when their raft dropped again. A wave crashing right over his head. 

First, he felt the water on his skin cooling the heat of the California sun. Second, he felt his hair cling to his face and when he finally realized that his whole clothing was dripping he let out a curse. 

“Oh fuck. I hate this. I hate this so much.”, he started to rant and tried to push all the blonde strands out of his face but failing miserably. 

Damen stayed silent and when Laurent looked at him he realized why. He was gawking at Laurent. Literally. 

Laurent was suddenly painfully aware that an all-white outfit hadn’t been the best choice today even if it had kept the heat away perfectly before. He took his bag and placed it carefully in front of his chest. At least his pants were thick enough and hadn’t turned see-through. 

The teenagers started to laugh and Laurent wished for nothing more than to just sink into the ground at right that moment.

The ride ended soon after and Laurent got out immediately. Damen followed him agonizingly slow and earned himself a death glare. 

“We’re going shopping.”, Laurent commanded already feeling bruises forming were wet fabric chafed against his sensitive skin with every movement.

Damen didn’t protest. In fact, he seemed awfully quiet following Laurent a few steps behind. 

They finally reached a shop and Laurent wrung out his shirt one last time before entering. He took one last look at Damen who seemed to be unbothered by his clothes clinging to him until… he reached for the wet fabric of his tank and pulled it over his head. 

Laurent turned and rushed inside heat rising in his gut and cheeks. He busied himself with finding a shirt that didn’t look like it would be worn by either a toddler or a dad. 

In the end, he found a dark blue shirt with a Captain America logo and grey sweatpants with a subtle Disney emblem on the right pocket and went to the counter to pay where Damen was waiting, still shirtless and two headbands with mouse ears in his hand.

“Oh don't you dare.”, he groaned and snatched one of the headbands out of Damen’s hand. Dark puppy eyes looked at him and it sent a shiver down his spine.

“But Auguste told us to take pictures. They’ll look cool.”, Damen protested and reached for the headband in Laurent’s hand who placed his hand behind his back. 

“I won’t take any pictures in this. No Broadway producer will ever see me like that. Especially not with fucking mouse ears.”, Laurent gestured to the clothes in his other hand and placed the headband back on the rack Damen had taken it from. 

A woman standing behind them covered her daughter’s ears and shot Laurent a look who grimaced and muttered an apology. 

“Fine, Mr. Grinch.”, Damen sighed and paid for his headband before stepping aside to let Laurent pay for his things. 

The girl behind the counter grinned at them and scanned Laurent’s clothing. “I wasn’t sure I recognized you at first but you’re Laurent de Vere right?”

Laurent froze and nodded silently. Of course, the one person in the whole of California who recognized him had to see him drenched and messy. 

“I love your vibratos. They’re really good.”, the girl handed him his clothes and flashed him a bright smile. 

“Thank you. It took a lot of time to get there. Where are the changing rooms?”, he replied and waited for her to gesture at the left corner before he left and finally got himself out of the wet clothing.

When he looked in the mirror he let out a sigh. His hair was unruly and it looked even worse paired with the sweats. Luckily he had a hair tie on his wrist so he pulled it up in a loose bun to do some damage control. 

Damen had waited for him in front of the store the mouse ears now on his head but still no shirt on. Laurent willed himself not to look at the tanned abs where a small line of hair showed right above his shorts. 

“Are you planning on walking around like that the whole day?”, Laurent asked him when he stepped out of the store and earned a shrug from Damen. 

“Well at least until my shirt is dry, I think.”, Damen’s eyes wandered over Laurent’s body as he took in the new outfit. Laurent was more than uncomfortable and way too aware of his looks right that moment.

“You’re a barbarian.”, he said dryly and put on his sunglasses. At least now Damen wouldn’t notice it if he stared every once in a while when inevitably Laurent’s self-control broke for a moment. 

They went on to strolling around the park lazily and started some small talk. Damen told him about his family and growing up in Greece while Laurent kept to his life in New York except for the occasional funny story of him and Auguste as kids. 

When he told Damen about the day Laurent had visited 17-year-old Auguste on set and had ruined every single take by running to his older brother to offer him some of his sweets Damen broke into laughter and took a whole five minutes to calm himself down. 

Laurent felt his stomach clench at the sound. He knew he shouldn’t be enjoying Damen’s company as much but he simply couldn’t help himself.

“I’m sorry it’s just really hard to picture you anything but the cool professional.”, Damen finally let out as they stopped in front of the castle. 

“Well, I guess nobody’s born that way.”, Laurent mumbled. He’d been a happy child back when everything was still alright, his parents alive and his uncle on the other side of the country.

Damen nodded in agreement before he held out his phone to Laurent who gave him a questioning look.

“I know _you_ don’t want to take pictures but I won’t risk Nik and Auguste being angry at me so would you mind taking some of me?”, he already went on to pose. Laurent chuckled when he saw the flexed muscles and shook his head.

“Anything I have to keep in mind?”, he asked as he squatted down and started taking some pictures. 

“Just don’t choose an angle where any rolls are visible.”, Damen told him as if they were any rolls to be visible.

Their small photoshoot attracted an audience and after more than 50 pictures Damen finally went over to Laurent and grabbed his phone back. Laurent rolled his eyes at the flock of young girls who practically mooned over Damen but he couldn’t exactly blame them, could he?

Damen nodded approvingly while he went through the pictures and selected three to edit and post. 

The rest of the day went by in a haze. Their conversations kept flowing until it suddenly was 8 pm and they walked back to the hotel where they had started off.

_ Damen’s POV _

Laurent walked up to the reception and showed his id to get Auguste’s car back. Meanwhile Damen stood there a bit lost. He’d put his shirt back on when it was dry enough but it was ruffled. 

When the valet pulled up in front of the lobby and passed Laurent the keys the blonde turned towards Damen with a smirk, holding out the keys in front of him. 

“Want to drive? I’m wayyy too tired.”, he suggested and before Damen could say anything went to push the keys into Damen’s hand and sit in the passenger seat.

“I’m…”, Damen was at a loss for words. If they crashed he would probably have to start an only fans and sell porn to avoid being in debt. But Laurent seemed intend to stay right where he had just settled in so Damen got in.

It wasn’t like Damen had never driven a sports car but this was a whole new league, a way more expensive league. 

“Would you mind stopping to get some food? I’m starving.”, Laurent next to him was already connecting his phone and started to play James Bond soundtracks.

“I’m just trying to get you into the mood to fucking start driving.”, he shrugged when Damen looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Would you just give me a second?”, Damen groaned and gently tapped on the gas pedal. The car pressed forward immediately and he drew in a breath.

“I was thinking Italian.”, Laurent contemplated looking completely unfaced. Damen nodded as he tried his best to focus on not crashing the car.

While Damen was driving Laurent had fallen silent and a short glance to the passenger side confirmed that he was, in fact, sleeping. 

His usually cold face had turned soft and Damen felt his chest warm at it. Laurent looked even more beautiful when he relaxed. 

Damen followed the directions on the screen to the Italian place Laurent had picked out and tried his best to park the car without any sudden movement. 

Without waking Laurent he got out and went inside to get their order. The waiter eventually figured out what order it was and handed Damen two doggy bags.

When he got back Laurent was already awake and looked at him drowsily. Damen got back in again and handed the food to Laurent. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”, Laurent grimaced apologetically and opened both doggy backs to look inside before nodding in confirmation.

“I didn’t mind.”, Damen answered truthfully. “But. Um. Do you want to take the food home with you or-”

“I’ll take it home if you’re okay with that. You might have noticed I need some sleep soo…”, Laurent interrupted and began to trail off. 

“We could do lunch tomorrow if you don’t mind Nik. He’ll probably be working anyway.”, Damen blurted out and almost wanted to reprimand himself. 

Nik always told him he was too straightforward most of the time that he wore his heart on his sleeve and Nik was right. Nik was always right but that didn’t change anything because Damen always failed at following his advice.

“Yeah. Lunch is fine.”, Laurent gave Damen a half-smile still looking very much tired and turned the music up again. “Would you drive yourself home? I’ll take the wheel from then.”

Damen nodded and started driving. They spent the next 10 minutes in silence. It didn’t feel weird though. The silence was comfortable since both were pretty much worn out by a whole day of running around.

When Damen got home he parked the car right in the driveway and gave Laurent back the keys before giving him an awkward wave. Laurent still waved back with a smile though and Damen went upstairs ecstatic on what had just happened today.

He felt as if they had gotten closer for real. Sure, he didn’t totally get Laurent yet but he wasn’t sure he ever would. That was part of the intrigue. Laurent would always be able to throw something at him he didn’t expect.

While he was eating the pasta he’d gotten from the Italian place he edited the pictures he’d chosen earlier. He went on to post them and typed the caption ‘Thanks boss! @agdevere 📷: @laurentdevere’. 

Damen almost dropped his phone when he saw Laurent’s profile pop up at the mention and exited Instagram to call Nikandros. His best friend picked up after the second ring but didn’t seem too impressed.

“I got unblocked Nik!”, Damen announced triumphantly his grin probably audible on the other line.

“I’m shocked. You didn’t totally embarrass yourself? Wow.”, Nik laughed sarcastically.

“Why can’t you just be happy for me?”, Damen pouted accusingly which drew out another laugh from Nik.

“I am. Or rather I will be when this shit is done and I haven’t gotten any HR complaints about you.”, Damen rolled his eyes at the unnecessary addition. 

“Wow, thanks Satan. Anyway, you’ll be pleased to hear Laurent took a few pictures. I’ll be putting them up right now.”, Damen took another bite of his pasta before it could get cold.

“Mickey Mouse ears?”, his best friend inquired the frown on his face visible.

“Mhm. Shirtless.”, Damen added his mouth still full.

“You’re lucky most of your followers are young girls thirsting.”, Damen could’ve sworn he heard Nik’s eyes roll from miles away. 

“Is your leg alright? Better to a cool bandage for the night.”, Nik continued his voice openly concerned. 

“Will do. It actually hurts like hell. Might go to the doc for once.”, Damen admitted quietly.

“I’ll get you an appointment. Tomorrow or the day after?”, Nik put on his manager voice as he probably already drew up Damen’s schedule.

“Tomorrow.”, Damen answered after a look down his leg. The bruising had almost spread to his knees. It looked like shit.

“I’ll text you time and place. Good night, Damen.” Nik informed him and before hanging up added a teasing. “Don’t jerk off on his pictures. I’ll be able to see it on your face tomorrow and I would very much like to keep that image out of my… shit it’s too late. Bye.”

“Good Night.”, Damen muttered to the beep of Nik hanging up on him as he finished his food and threw in another painkiller.

He decided to take Nik's advice for once and wrapped some cool packs in a makeshift bandage before he went to bed and scrolled through Laurent’s feed some more until he fell asleep. 

It was a shame that his whole profile consisted of promos for his shows only an occasional recording of rehearsals once in a while. Still, Damen fell asleep to Laurent’s voice coming from his speakers as he sang a cover of  [‘Nobody Needs to Know’](https://youtu.be/_JIeSCrW_s4?list=PLmZdOTKUg-we2f5_DM9-eEOR07WJ2_xGA&t=223) . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading up until now!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filming continues. There's a time-lapse and Laurent makes a move. But there's a catch.  
> Things are getting complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't posted in what feels like forever but I had tons of shit to do and whenever I had some time to myself I got lazy and didn't do a single thing.  
> I've felt guilty every single minute I spent not writing so I think I'll stick to somewhat of a schedule for now (an over 2,500 word chapter doesn't write itself and especially not in less than two hours, at least not when my full brain power is needed to teach myself stochastics). I was thinking every third day or so might be one I could stick to but I can't promise I won't switch to weekly instead.  
> Um yeah, I hope you still enjoy this chapter anyway :)

The next morning Damen had an early doctor’s appointment. He was prescribed some painkillers and given a professional bandage to keep on for a few weeks.

When he arrived on set everyone was already out of hair and makeup and staring at him accusingly. Even though the crew's anger disappeared when Damen told them about his injury and the appointment he couldn’t help to feel guilty.

“Just a pulled muscle, huh?”, Laurent teased after walking over but his angelic blue eyes sparked just the slightest bit of concern. Damen felt his heart throb and wondered if just maybe he was imagining it.

“It’s a muscle strain. Same symptoms just worse.”, he tried to protest but couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Laurent had unblocked him. They had spent a great day together. And overall, Damen was falling hard. 

Each second he spent with Laurent, the real Laurent not the closed-off professional actor, showed him different things to adore. If only he could act on it. If only he knew that Laurent felt the same. 

“Sure, Mr. Fitness Guru. Would you mind getting ready? We’re kind of waiting for you.”, Laurent flashed him a smile and Damen couldn’t do anything but nod and rush off into hair and makeup.

They picked up right where they had left off last time. Damen got through his song without any mistakes and reached out to pull Laurent up on the stage. Laurent stepped on effortlessly and waited for Damen to finish with his lines before he uttered the ‘I forgive you’ and wrapped his arms around his co-star.

Their lips met and Damen let his hands run through silky blonde hair as he tried his best to keep himself grounded. Laurent leaned into the kiss and soon enough their lips crashed against each other hungrily. 

Damen was the one to break it off this time as he felt his judgment starting to cloud and his body moving on its own accord. He would be damned if he let himself lose control a second time even if Laurent acted as if he wouldn't mind. That was the whole point. Acting.

“Cut.”, Auguste yelled and his face did nothing to hide his pride as he let the take run through the camera monitors again. “I’m a magician, aren’t I?”

“So I’m not getting killed?”, Laurent asked innocently. Damen tried to calm his breathing as he followed their banter go on for about 2 more minutes before they shot another take of the same scene. ‘Just to make sure’

In the end it took 3 more takes for Auguste to be pleased enough to let everyone take an early lunch break. Most people, Damen included, ordered pizza. Meanwhile Laurent disappeared into his dressing room and returned with a salad. 

As Laurent sat down next to Damen he couldn’t help himself but eye the feta on top of all the lettuce. 

“Want some?”, Laurent asked when he noticed Damen’s gaze and held his fork out to Damen who had to restrain himself from nodding. 

“That’s about all the protein you got in there. You probably wouldn’t hit your macros.”, Damen heard himself say instead and felt Nik’s eyes on him. 

“I seem to have missed the point where he asked for your ‘expert’ opinion.”, Nik cleared his throat and earned a chuckle from Laurent.

Damen wanted to protest but Laurent’s face made him freeze instead. He still couldn’t grasp how anyone could be blessed with such looks. 

Before Damen’s mind could wander off Auguste let himself plop down next to Laurent and threw his arm over his brother’s shoulders.

“Since you’re not even asking me to eat lunch I take it your day went well.”, Auguste pouted and grabbed a tomato out of Laurent’s salad bowl.

“Sure. He’s still an idiot but I think I can handle him now. Obviously all thanks to you big bro.”, Laurent freed himself of Auguste’s grab and patted the sandy blonde hair on his brother’s head.

“Words can hurt, you know?”, Damen whined dramatically and let himself sink down in his chair.

“Where did you get those acting skills and why exactly don’t you put them to use in front of the camera?”, Nik asked dryly looking up from his phone where he had been browsing some profile on social media. 

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think so?”, Laurent countered innocently and batted his full eyelashes at Nik who rolled his eyes and returned back to browsing on his phone.

“I know you’re joking Laurent but I honestly think Damen’s got something.”, Auguste smiled at Damen encouragingly and tension dropped from his shoulders. Although Damen knew everything was meant in good fun he was already too insecure about being the worst actor on set.

“Wanna know what he’s got? It’s called being hot.”, Laurent remarked and Damen blanked. Laurent, ethereal and angelic-looking Laurent, had just called him hot. Laurent found him attractive, right?

“Congratulations. You officially broke him.”, Nik groaned and burrowed his face in his palms. Damen couldn’t be bothered with his best friend’s warnings right now. 

“So… I’m just hot?”, he teased and crossed his arms, his muscles weren’t as obvious in the loose shirt he had to wear for shooting but it still did the job. Laurent was staring and Damen was sure this time it wasn’t just him projecting his feelings.

“Excuse me while I go and throw up.”, Nik retched and let his discomfort show visibly. Meanwhile Auguste was surveying the whole thing calmly.

“I’m sorry? I was mistaken. I didn’t think you could form coherent sentences.”, Laurent grinned. Damen didn’t even process the insult properly since he was busy attempting to keep his mind at bay.

“You know what? I couldn’t care less what the fuck is going on with you two because you’re delivering and…”, Auguste paused for a moment. “...Laurent seems to be fine with it.”

There was a whole minute of awkward silence until the pizza finally came and everyone was too busy with eating to get any talking done. 

Over the next few weeks they developed a routine. Laurent would join Nik and Damen for lunch. Sometimes Auguste joined as well. 

Soon the days started to get shorter and nights started to get chilly. Laurent had taken to wearing cardigans over his shirts that hid his whole figure beneath fabric.

Although Damen cursed every inch of clothing on Laurent’s body it did seem to do the job of keeping him sensible around his co-star. While they were flirting every once in a while, or at least Damen thought so, neither of them ever made any moves.

Nik had done his best to talk some sense to Damen by giving him countless speeches on ‘falling for the next bitchy blonde’ or ‘getting killed by Auguste’ but it only worked so far as to stop Damen from taking things any further.

With only a week of filming left everyone seemed more relaxed and laid back. Even Laurent who stopped coming in first and regularly posed for pictures Auguste took of each and every one of the cast ‘for promotional purposes’.

“Tomorrow we’ll do recordings. I hope you’re going easy on your voice because I will get annoyed if it cracks more than once.”, Damen was in the middle of changing when he heard the door to his dressing room open and recognized Laurent’s voice.

Damen hurriedly pulled the sweatpants he’d just been putting on over his boxers and looked at Laurent with wide eyes. He had already changed and his hair was pulled up into a loose bun a few strands already falling out of it.

Blue eyes were burning themselves into Damen’s exposed skin and Damen felt as if electricity was running through him all of a sudden.

“I think you’ll have to make me shut up.”, Damen breathed and felt his body move two steps towards Laurent who laughed and straightened up.

“Aren’t you already speechless?”, he purred as he moved closer to Damen. They had never been alone in an enclosed space before and suddenly Damen became aware of every single movement in the room.

He knew for sure there was some kind of tension between them. Otherwise their conversations wouldn’t trail off as fast as they did. Still, with no one around and Laurent right next to him Damen was taken by surprise when slender fingers brushed over his chest intently.

They were co-workers if anything they were friends. At least that was what Damen told himself when his heart started to race at the tiniest thought of Laurent. Right now there was nothing friendly about the way Laurent was staring at him and Damen couldn’t help but stare back. 

He knew he should stop this. He knew that Nik was right. He should wait until their movie was done. Completely done. But on the other hand… Everything was mostly done. It would be a week and they would only ever see each other again for the premier if they didn’t want to.

Damen’s heart ached when he thought of Laurent getting ripped from his life. However, the thought, or any other thoughts for that matter, was pushed away when Laurent moved even closer.

The blonde appeared to have a similar train of thought and Damen let himself hope that this weird game they had been playing the whole time would finally come to an end.

“We have one week until I head back east.”, Laurent whispered as he pressed his lips onto Damen’s who was unable to do anything but lean into the kiss and draw Laurent’s body closer to his.

Without removing his lips from the other’s Damen backed Laurent against the nearest wall and broke their kiss only for his mouth to wander down Laurent’s jaw until he was able to feel pale sensitive skin against his lips.

A quiet moan slipped out of Laurent and encouraged Damen to go on. He felt his blood rush downwards while Laurent’s hands roamed all over his body. 

“And to think I thought you were straight…”, Laurent chuckled in between pants and Damen stopped for a second to look at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“I honestly don’t know where you got that idea from.”, he groaned and slid his hands underneath Laurent’s dark blue shirt. Defined muscles pushed against Damen’s hands who halted again. 

“Don’t tell me you think I don’t work out just because I’m not fully blown out of proportion.”, Laurent chuckled again and the skin around his eyes wrinkled in the most adorable way. Damen stayed silent as he felt he would only ruin this by talking too much. 

“I have to be able to keep up dancing and singing for 2 hours straight.”,Laurent added with a smirk having drawn his conclusions from Damen’s silence and drew Damen closer. 

“Is that a challenge?”, Damen groaned and stripped Laurent of his shirt in one smooth movement. He felt his eyes widen as fair smooth skin was exposed to him. Laurent was slim but he was right, there were definitely a few defined muscles here and there. Awestruck Damen forced himself to keep moving as he covered every inch of Laurent’s upper body in kisses.

Just when Damen let himself drop to his knees and fumbled with Laurent’s belt the door swung open and he heard a familiar voice cry out.

“Oh, my fucking… Damen what the fuck. I am officially scarred for life.”, Nik threw his hands over his eyes and flinched. Damen shot up and tried not to look at his best friend too closely.

“I mean, who doesn’t at least lock the door. I was so rooting for you not to fuck up but here we are. You’re a lucky bastard. If it had been anyone else you could register as a sex offender tomorrow.”, Nik went on keeping his eyes covered. Laurent’s cheeks turned bright red as he scrambled for his shirt, pulled it over his head inside out and rushed out. 

“I’m sorry, Nik. Okay? I didn’t mean-”, Damen tried to explain himself but he was immediately stopped and shut his mouth without protest.

“Don’t give me that bullshit you’re not sorry. I mean, I knew… Why did you have to get it on onset though?”, Nik sighed as he let his hands sink down. “I’m not surprised, Damen. I know you. Just…”

“That’s not it, I swear. He started it and today was the first time and I’m weak and I don’t know what to do around him. You know that.”, Damen stammered and looked at Nik who shook his head slowly. 

“You better get me a good Christmas present this year.”, Damen nodded and looked at the other man questioningly. 

“Are we good?”, he whispered unsure if he’d finally pushed his best friend over the edge.

“We’re so not good.”, Nik started but his face was already softening. “But we will be if you could avoid being such a slut for once.”

“You love my slutty self.”, Damen joked in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Only when I’m drunk and one of your conquests gets delivered to me on a silver platter.”, Nik corrected him and patted Damen’s shoulder. “Common little man whore let’s get you home so you can relieve yourself.”

Damen looked at Nik confused until he took notice of the huge bulge inside of his pants. He immediately tried to tuck his erection away but failed miserably at hiding his arousal so he decided to tie his shirt around his hip in a way that hid his crotch as best as possible.

“Aren’t you kinda cold that way?”, Nik teased with a chuckle after taking one look at Damen. 

“Very funny. You’re a born comedian.”, Damen muttered and rolled his eyes while he grabbed his things and got ready to leave.

“What can I say, I’m a man of many talents.”, Nik grinned the whole as they made their way toward Damen’s car and on the whole drive home. It was honestly unsettling so when Damen finally closed the door to his apartment the bulge was gone.

_[07:26 pm] Sooo… are we going to talk about it?_

After he sent the text he let himself plop down onto his couch and stared at his phone for a few minutes the TV only turned on for background noise. The second his phone chimed Damen shot up though.

_[07:34 pm] I’d rather not._

Damen frowned at the text. Things with Laurent had always been confusing but now… Well, they were on a whole different level now. Damen could still feel his touch but at the same time he felt even more distant now.

_[07:36 pm] Are we pretending this never happened then?_

_[07:36 pm] Because I don’t know if I want to do that._

Laurent went offline and left him on read, again. Why did everything Laurent have to be so damn frustrating?

An hour went by without a reply from Laurent and Damen had decided to treat himself to a bath. After all, he wouldn’t be able to force anything.

Although his phone chimed Damen chose to ignore it. In the end, he was exhausted with chasing after Laurent, always just two steps behind. Laurent always flirted back but whenever things started to get too heated or serious he changed the topic of the conversation.

It left Damen feeling as if he was being strung along. He knew he was already in way over his head but even then he could see that this was not how things were supposed to go. 

Finally, when he got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around his waist he checked his phone. 

_[08:43 pm] Neither do I._

Damen sighed as he typed his reply. 

_[09:27 pm] And where does that leave us?_

This time Laurent replied mere seconds after Damen had pressed ‘send’ and he felt warmth spread inside his chest.

_[09:28 pm] I’d say it’s complicated._

_[09:29 pm] Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing._

While Damen put on a worn-out shirt and loose boxers for bed he tried his best to think of a way to respond. Nothing seemed to feel right in the end.

_[09:53 pm] Let’s figure it out tomorrow_

_[09:53 pm] We could grab dinner or something if you want :)_

Laurent didn’t read his message until half an hour later when Damen was already finishing up the episode of some Netflix series he’d started up to distract himself.

_[10:21 pm] Sure._

Sure… Damen didn’t know what to do with that. He ended up leaving it at that and tried to think of what the single word could exactly mean which he failed miserably at. Instead, his thoughts drifted off to Laurent himself. 

At first, what Damen had felt had been raw physical attraction but with every day of shooting together he had noticed small habits in Laurent’s actions and he’d started to fall harder with every single one he discovered. 

Had there ever been a way out of Laurent’s trap Damen had missed it a long time ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My smut writing is really bad and I apologize in advance in case I decide to write a full scene lol.  
> I think we're more than halfway near the end too.  
> But there are some one-shots I might add in this universe if I find the motivation to write them.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me and reading up until now though! :))


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Auguste tries to give one of his talks. Nik is condescending. Things are awkward. And don't they still have to go on that date?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have downed an entire bottle of wine before remembering that this chapter still needs to be edited and posted so I apologize in advance if there are any mistakes Grammarly and drunk me couldn't find (I'll go over it again tomorrow but I wanted to stick to my schedule so here you go for now).
> 
> I hope it's still enjoyable though!
> 
> Aaaand it's Laurent POV yay!

Laurent had no idea what he had been thinking when he’d basically attacked Damen. Except that he knew for sure he needed him in some way or the other.

While Auguste was driving them to the recording studio Laurent could still feel the ghost of Damen’s lips on his and his warm body pressed against him.

His brother had noticed his inverted shirt yesterday but he had refrained from commenting on it up until now when he shot Laurent a concerned look after having parked the car.

“So… Are you going to tell me what happened? I’m not blind, you know?”, Auguste sighed and locked the doors when he realized that Laurent was already grabbing the door handle in an attempt to run.

“There’s nothing to tell. Believe me.”, Laurent mumbled, suspiciously quiet and let himself sink down in the passenger seat. There was no escaping this conversation but he could still try to talk himself out of it for now.

“I call bullshit.”, Auguste grinned and pointed at Damen’s Jeep parked next to them. “You’ve been getting closer ever since I sent you off to Disney. I haven’t seen you that relaxed around anyone but me.”

“No shit sherlock. He’s nice. Like, genuinely nice. That doesn’t mean anything is going to happen.”, he rolled his eyes and reached for his phone in an attempt to avoid having to look at Auguste which was abruptly stopped by his brother’s hand on his own.

“So you’re telling me you didn’t lose your shirt and put it on inside out afterward?”, Auguste raised one of his eyebrows and gave Laurent a look that made him feel like he couldn’t hide a single thing.

“For fuck’s sake, Auguste. I am telling you nothing happened. He’s just confusing, okay? If, and only if, anything were to come out of this, whatever it is, it would have to be long-distance because I won’t move here permanently and that’s not something I want.”, he answered truthfully and bit his lower lip. 

Now he knew what had gotten into him just a day earlier. He’d seen Damen, dangerously beautiful Damen, and he didn’t want to leave with any regrets. He didn’t want to leave without knowing what he’d be missing.

And even if knowing what he was missing might kill his future self. Laurent was well aware that not knowing would drive him even more crazy. 

“We’re grabbing dinner tonight. At least that’s what I think we agreed to? I’ll talk to him later. Do you mind going in now or do we need to be fashionably late?”, Laurent added and propped himself up in his seat reaching for the door handle once again and waiting for Auguste to unlock the car.

“Promise you’ll tell me how it went.”, Auguste demanded and help up his pinky just like he’d done when Laurent had still been just a small child.

“Promise.”, he nodded and intertwined their pinkies until Auguste unlocked the doors and he could finally get out of this situation. 

Although he wouldn’t say it out loud he was grateful to Auguste for forcing him to voice his feelings. It helped, saying things out loud, to get a better idea of what he was actually thinking.

They walked into the studio and were greeted by a flock of people who knew Auguste in some way or the other. Laurent stayed polite and let himself be introduced. Whenever Auguste mentioned any Tony nominations he beamed with pride and Laurent tried his best to fight the heat rising in his cheeks.

After all, he still had to actually win one. Nominations were nothing if all you ever did was lose. At least he still had around 20 years of his prime left so  _ never _ winning a Tony did seem pretty unlikely.

In the end, Laurent was dragged into a small room by a young woman who had introduced herself as Vannes while Auguste claimed he had some ‘catching up’ to do and stayed in the studio’s front chatting with old acquaintances.

Damen was lounging on a dark brown leather sofa and his look shot up when he realized someone had stepped in. His bright red shirt was, as usual, sinfully tight and left very little to the imagination. Laurent brought himself to swallow and sit down on a chair next to him.

“Hey there, seductress.”, Nikandros seemed pleased with himself when Laurent jumped at his voice and ignored Damen glaring at him altogether. 

“I’ll ask you kindly... Would you please shut the fuck up?”, Laurent forced a smile and cursed the small crack his voice betrayed him with. He’d successfully pushed out the memory of Nik barging in on them up until now and he’d never felt as humiliated in his entire life.

“Wouldn’t that be boring though?”, Laurent wished for nothing more than to wipe that smirk out of Nik’s face but he’d probably lose a fight if it ever came to one so he fought down his anger and instead turned to Vannes to ask her what the exact plan for today was.

“We’d like to start with you, it’s easier for Damen to harmonize if he’s got a mostly finished track to work with.”, she explained and sat down in one of the chairs right in front of the mixer. “He’s already had a quick run through so you can start to warm up inside the booth and I’ll figure out what tuning we need for you.”

Laurent nodded and stepped into the recording booth the doors swinging shut next to him. On the other side of the glass wall he could see Damen and Nik wrapped up in some sort of argument while Vannes seemed to ignore them and pushed some buttons. 

Fortunately Laurent was used to recording stuff so he grabbed a pair of headphones put them on and waited for Vannes to give him a starting note. When she finally did he held it humming and started with running up and down the scale leisurely until Vannes gave him a thumbs up.

“You’re all set. We’re starting with your duets so just imagine the one piano is Damen.”, her finger pressed the button that allowed Laurent to hear what was going on on the other side and he caught an annoyed “Fine.” from Nik before everything turned quiet again.

Laurent tried his best to concentrate on singing the correct lyrics and hitting the correct notes which proved to be harder than it should’ve been thanks to Damen sitting right in his field of vision and looking like something god-sent.

When Auguste entered the room and started talking to Damen Laurent felt himself getting nervous. No matter what Auguste was telling Damen, he was grinning and Auguste grinning could not be good when Laurent had just bared his heart to him this morning.

While his mind was busy running through possible scenarios of humiliation Laurent found himself unable to form any proper words and stumbled over his part of the chorus like a fucking amateur. 

“Ugh. I’m so sorry. Let’s do this again.”, he muttered into the microphone and saw Vannes give him a nod. Meanwhile Auguste looked up from his conversation with Damen. Laurent fucking up something as easy as the chorus was very out of character so naturally his brother realized something was up.

Auguste took about 10 seconds to evaluate what was happening before shaking his head and flashing an encouraging smile. Laurent took a deep breath and focused on his surroundings inside the booth. This should be easy. If only Damen wasn’t so damn distracting.

After a few more tries Laurent finally managed to get an approving look from Vannes and got out of the booth again where Auguste handed him a glass of water. He took it with an uttered ‘Thanks’ and let himself sink onto the sofa next to Damen.

“I’ll never live up to that.”, Damen sighed and moved to get into the booth himself. Laurent took a sip of his water before shaking his head. 

“No, you won’t because I have more than 14 years of training. But you’ll be alright. There’s always autotune and you’ve been practicing, right?”, he did his best at sounding encouraging and Auguste looked at him with wide eyes.

“Was that…? Laurent, are you being  _ nice _ ?”, he gasped and threw a hand over his mouth. Laurent just rolled his eyes and decided to try and ignore his brother for the rest of the day. He didn’t want Damen to fail just because he was nervous, that was all. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

Damen smiled before walking into the recording booth and Laurent caught a small glance at his dimple. 

The whole time Damen was recording Laurent could feel two pairs of eyes resting on him. He did his best to ignore them and focus on Damen instead. Now that he didn’t need to deliver any kind of performance his mind started to wander.

Laurent couldn’t fathom how Damen seemed to be so relaxed about the whole situation. They still had to talk about everything. He still wasn’t sure what he had agreed to yesterday. 

They sat there in silence until Damen was finished with recording so far. Laurent was still wrapped up in thoughts when Damen stepped out and took a glass of water from Auguste. 

Vannes had probably told them to take a break because Auguste was already on his way out and Nik had pulled out his phone and was already dialing but Laurent didn’t actually notice any of that.

“Um, about tonight, I was thinking about a picnic? You don’t have to worry about anything though… I’ll pick you up.”, Damen mumbled and Laurent was snapped out of his daze. He looked around the room only to find they were alone now. 

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll need to ask Auguste for one of those passes though. They won’t let you in otherwise.”, Laurent tried his best to sound indifferent but he knew that his smile was probably betraying him. 

He’d never meant for Damen to make him feel this way. All he’d ever wished for was a quick fling until Damen had started to make an effort of tearing down each of his walls slowly. 

“Great. Now… how am I supposed to act around you? Because I don’t like whatever this is right now.”, Damen gestured between Laurent who was still sitting on the couch and himself standing in the middle of the room. 

“I don’t know. It’s awkward right?”, Laurent sighed and scooched over to make some room for Damen who fortunately got the hint and sat down next to him. 

“I want…”, Damen breathed and Laurent felt their thighs touch. Damen’s touch felt warm and sent shivers up his spine. When Damen shifted and turned towards Laurent, moving in closer cautiously, he felt his breath hitch. 

“Me too. I’d like to avoid another situation though.” It took all of Laurent’s willpower to push Damen away and shake his head although it was made easier by the memory of Nikandros barging in on them just a day earlier. He didn’t even want to imagine what kind of nightmare Auguste would turn into if he caught them now.

Damen nodded and bit his lip. He forced a smile although he couldn’t exactly hide his disappointment. Laurent’s heart ached when he looked into dark big eyes.

“I’ve been offered a job. Rehearsals would start next month.”, Laurent said in an attempt to change the atmosphere although it didn’t exactly work as good as he had hoped.

“That’s cool.”, Damen replied curtly and his expression faltered for a second. Laurent couldn’t stand seeing him defeated like that. Damen was supposed to be this ever so happy presence in his life he had been over the last few months.

“Fuck it. We have about 10 minutes, right?”, Laurent mumbled and grabbed Damen’s shirt to draw him close. “Clothing stays on this time.”

Their lips brushed against each other and Laurent could feel Damen’s hands slip beneath his clothing and grab his waist. For a moment he let himself forget everything else and basked in the touch. 

Damen broke the kiss before it could deepen and looked at Laurent nervously his breathing heavy.

“What are we even doing?”, he asked and let his hands fall from Laurent’s waist. Laurent couldn’t stop a quiet sigh escaping him at the loss. 

There was a moment of silence, none of them daring to say anything and before Laurent could muster up the courage to voice his thoughts the door swung open and Auguste’s head popped in. 

“I’m not intruding, am I? Cause I can fuck off again. I brought snacks though.”, Laurent heard his brother say and brushed over his shirt to hide any evidence of what had just happened.

‘I don’t know either but it feels right.’ he had wanted to say but with Auguste sitting down next to them the words stuck in his throat.

“It’s fine. Thank you.”, Damen was the first to say something as he grabbed some pretzels and shoved them into his mouth.

“You’re welcome. So if everything goes according to plan in post premier will be on Valentine’s.”, Auguste looked pleased with himself and opened his mouth once more but Laurent who had already anticipated some stupid comment shut him up with a glare.

The rest of the day went by rather fast with a few stolen glances at Damen here and there. Vannes sent them the results of the day to each of their phones before escorting everyone outside.

Everyone said their goodbyes. Laurent was pulled into a quick hug by Damen who quietly confirmed the time he should show up at Auguste’s. 

When Laurent sat down in the passenger side and Auguste was starting up the engine he allowed himself a single short glance at Damen who was currently backing out of his parking spot his dark eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

“Would you mind sending Damen one of the visitor passes?”, Laurent finally asked innocently and Auguste, who was casually backing out, forgot to press the clutch down as he slammed on the brake and stalled the engine.

“You’re not planning on getting it on in my house are you? Because I’d rather be out of town for that, thank you very much.”, his brother gaped at him and shook his head. Laurent didn’t usually go on dates and even if he did Auguste usually didn’t know.

“The poor baby and to think you scolded me for not being careful enough with the Aston”, Laurent grinned as he stroked the wooden dashboard. “But no. He’s picking me up and I would prefer not having to walk 3 miles to get out of your neighborhood and end up looking like a dumbass when I’m early.”

“Oh please, as if you give a shit about my cars.”, Auguste scoffed and started up the engine again before shooting Laurent a knowing look. “And yes I will. If just to keep your pristine reputation.”

“Shut up.”, Laurent lightly slapped Auguste's arm and made a show off looking outside the window before mumbling a quiet ‘Thank you’.

“What was that I’m sorry I must be deaf?”, Auguste smirked.

“You’ve heard me.”, Laurent said dryly and returned to watching houses pass by as they drove home.

Although Laurent had started getting ready the second they’d gotten home he still didn’t feel ready 2 hours later. 

He stood in front of the mirror, his hair still damp and alternatingly held two shirts in front of himself. In the end, Laurent gave up and went with a simple grey turtleneck that he usually didn’t wear without anything over because he found it gave away too much of his figure.

When he’d finally put on his outfit and was just starting to blow dry his hair Laurent’s phone chimed and he couldn’t help but immediately open the message from Damen.

_ [07:51 pm] I’m on my way. You might want to bring a jacket. _

Laurent smiled the whole time getting his hair ready. He knew he wasn’t supposed to feel this good about a date that had no real direction or any hopes for the future but for once he let himself live in the moment.

“Baby bro, I’m so proud.”, Auguste faked tearing up and went over to trap Laurent in a hug the second he had walked down the stairs. 

“What if I’m just whoring around tonight?”, Laurent asked with a smirk as he freed himself of Auguste’s arms. 

“Well, you do you. Your body your choice, right? But I really like Damen and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t hurt him so much that he doesn’t want to grab drinks anymore.”, Auguste reached out his hand in an attempt to ruffle Laurent’s hair but Laurent had anticipated some kind of attack on his looks so he dodged it smoothly.

“I’ll try.”, Laurent gave his brother a genuine smile and grabbed his jacket before walking towards the door where Damen’s Jeep was already pulling up.

“ _ Slipping through my fingers all the time. Do I really see what’s in his mind? Each time I think I’m close to knowing he keeps on going slipping through my fingers all the time. _ ”, Laurent heard Auguste hum while his brother let himself fall onto the couch dramatically.

“You’re the worst.”, he groaned and stepped out only to see Damen holding the door open for him. 

“Treat him right or I’ll hunt you down.”, Auguste’s voice shouted from where he was sitting in the living room and Laurent slammed the door behind himself before he hurriedly got into the car greeting Damen with a bright smile.

“Hurry up before he goes and gets a gun from somewhere.”, he laughed and Damen saluted jokingly.

“Your wish is my command.”, he grinned and Laurent shook his head even if he was not able to hide his own grin fully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks for reading up until now! There might be some smut next chapter but don't get your hopes up because I can't write smut to save my life (but I'll die trying lol)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's date time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't finish this chapter earlier but writing smut is always a challenge for me (idk why I am one of the most sexual people I know but ugh).   
> It's only one day behind though and it turned out to be extra long so please bear with me (even if the smut is bad).  
> Anyways enjoy!

Damen couldn’t help glancing at Laurent every once in a while. There was no way a human being could look this good. 

It was a half-hour drive to the beach but Damen knew the route by heart by now. He could still remember his first few weeks in LA. The yearning he’d felt for his homeland. 

When Nik finally had enough of him moping around Damen had been kidnapped and driven out of the city. The ocean had helped, although nothing would ever compare to the cliffs at home. 

“Where are you taking me?”, Laurent broke the silence around 5 minutes after they left the Hollywood Hills.

“Won’t it spoil the surprise if I tell you?”, Damen answered innocently and felt a smile creep onto his face.

“I hate surprises.”, Laurent murmured and let his head rest against the window. He looked young like this. Usually, Damen forgot that Laurent was barely an adult it was hard not to with the way he carried himself. 

“I figured. But trust me on this one. It’s a picnic, nothing more. I’m not kidnapping you.”, Damen joked and earned a small snort from Lauren that made his heart flutter.

They sat there in comfortable silence until Damen stopped the car on a relatively empty beach. Laurent raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything while Damen got out to open up the trunk. 

It had taken Damen hours to convert the back of his car into a pillow fort but when he saw Laurent’s eyes widen after getting out and following Damen every second was suddenly worth it.

“This is so cheesy.”, Laurent chuckled and climbed up before he sat down next to the box of food Damen had packed.

“Sue me.”, Damen grinned and tried his best not to hit his head as he followed. He must have looked hilarious because Laurent broke into laughter which resulted in Damen jolting up and smacking his head and Laurent laughing even harder.

“Sympathetic much.”, Damen groaned and let himself sink down next to Laurent who tried his best to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. 

“Oh please. It was your idea to squeeze yourself in here.”, Laurent said pressing his lips together in an attempt to stifle his laughter. Suddenly Damen forgot all the pain and reached out to brush a strand of blonde hair out of Laurent’s face.

“It sure was.”, he breathed and took a moment to gather himself before he started unpacking the food.

“So, um… I don’t know how to say this but I really like you and I know you won’t be in LA that much longer and stuff. But I’d love to see where this could go.”, Damen started and bit his lip not daring to look at Laurent and see his reaction.

“Look, I’m not good at this whole dating thing. I don’t usually do dates. Why don’t we give it a try for this week and then… I don’t know, we’ll see. Right?”, Laurent mumbled almost inaudible after an excruciatingly long amount of silence.

Damen nodded a smile spreading over his face. If a week was all Laurent would give him he would gladly take it. Even if that meant having his heart broken again. He would get his hopes up nevertheless.

“I’ve made some dips. I used my mother’s recipes but I’m not sure I got it exactly right. I hope they’re okay though.”, he started to ramble as he continued placing down everything in between them.

“I’m sure they’re great.”, Laurent leaned over and cupped Damen’s face inside his hands. Before Damen could say anything else soft lips shut him up. Every rational thought left Damen’s mind and all he could think about was Laurent right next to him.

He couldn’t remember a time where things had ever felt this right not even when he’d been debating proposing to Jokaste had he been this happy.

Laurent drew back with a smile and grabbed himself a piece of bread. Damen felt himself get nervous again when he tried the first dip and only after Laurent gave him a nod could he feel the tension drop from his shoulders.

“Think you can send me that recipe?”, Laurent grinned and took another bite.

They spent the rest of the night talking about the movie and planning out the week ahead. Somewhere along the line Damen had cleaned everything up and Laurent had moved closer.

Damen had one arm draped around Laurent and they were listening to the waves crashing. Everything was perfect right at that moment. Then Laurent turned around and made it even more perfect.

“So about that thing we did before we were interrupted by your manager.”, he breathed and lifted his head so their faces were right in front of each other.

“Want to continue?”, Damen whispered and tried to close the distance between them but Laurent drew back teasingly.

“Yes.”, Laurent grinned and let his hands rest on Damen’s chest. “But if I lose any clothes I’ll freeze to death. As much as I love this it  _ is  _ almost October.”

Damen groaned and let himself fall back only to hit his head against the headrest. 

“Maybe you’re right.”, he sighed and propped himself back up again. Laurent was already moving to get out of the trunk and Damen couldn’t help but follow. 

“Care to let me drive?”, Laurent looked way too pleased with himself when Damen nodded and sat down in the passenger seat. As if he was able to deny this god of a man anything he asked for.

Laurent sped through the night and Damen was almost tempted to say something when he suddenly felt slender fingers on his thigh and thought better of it. Laurent’s hand rested there for the most time only leaving its place to switch gears and returning immediately after.

When they arrived at Damen’s apartment complex they left the car in a hurry Damen’s hand had found himself in Laurent’s and was dragging the other into the elevator. 

After pressing the button to his floor Damen let himself be led by his instincts and pushed Laurent to the wall. 

He pressed his lips onto Laurent’s hungrily and let his hands slip beneath Laurent’s sinfully tight turtleneck. Laurent who was returning the kiss just as hungrily pushed him away gently and let out a hiss.

“You’re hands are still cold.”, Laurent complained and grabbed Damen’s wrists. Before Damen could say anything else though Laurent’s lips were already on his again. Laurent’s leg wrapped around him in an attempt to draw him closer and Damen could feel Laurent’s hard-on rubbing against his thigh.

Damen could feel his own blood rush towards his crotch. His head was fuzzy in anticipation of what was to come.

He groaned into Laurent’s mouth and felt the other’s lips curl up in a smile against his. Without thinking he grabbed both of Laurent’s thighs and lifted him up against the wall. While Laurent might’ve been slim he was still tall and surprisingly heavy which made Damen suck in a breath. 

“God that’s hot.”, Laurent sighed and wrapped his arms around Damen’s neck to close the remaining distance between them. 

The familiar ping announced the opening of the doors. Damen rolled his eyes and moved to let Laurent down gently before grabbing his hand to guide him through the hallway. 

While his mind was already occupied with thoughts of Laurent sans clothing his hands still had to fumble for his keys which proved to be quite the challenge. 

Laurent’s breathing had almost calmed down when Damen finally pushed open the door to his apartment. Meanwhile Damen still struggled to calm himself down even the tiniest bit.

There was a short moment where Laurent took in their surroundings before shoving Damen towards the couch in the middle of his open living room. 

“Someone’s eager.”, Damen teased and surrendered himself to Laurent’s will. He fell back onto the cushions and grabbed Laurent’s hips to drag the other down with him.

“I’m not the one who lost control at work.”, Laurent grinned as he slowly pushed the fabric of Damen’s shirt upwards. Cool air hit his skin when soft fingertips trailed along his muscles. Laurent’s touch was light and airy but it still sent shivers down Damen’s spine.

“Can you blame me?”, Damen breathed hoarsely and propped himself up to get rid of his shirt in one desperate movement. He let himself sink back down and took in the way Laurent looked above him. 

His blue eyes were almost black with his pupils blown wide. Across the pale skin was a shimmer of red and his pink lips were parted slightly. Damen tried to burn the picture into his mind. He’d be damned if he let himself forget what he was laying eyes on right now.

Laurent moved so he sat down on Damen’s lap and Damen couldn’t help but feel trapped in his pants. The thought was wiped away when Laurent rocked his hips once as he bowed down to press his lips onto Damen’s. 

Damen felt a sting of pain course through his body when Laurent’s teeth trapped his bottom lip but at the same time he found himself enjoying the sensation. Even more so when Laurent licked over it gently afterward.

A groan slipped out of Damen’s throat as he reached out and tore at Laurent’s turtleneck. The woolen fabric seemed insulting when all Damen wanted to do was appreciate this god of a man on top of him.

Laurent broke their kiss once again and got rid of his shirt in one smooth movement that had Damen jolt up just so he could get his hands on the pale skin. 

“Let’s take this to the bedroom.”, Damen heard himself mumble against Laurent’s neck where he was leaving a trail of gentle kisses. Although he would have loved nothing more than to test out just how easily he could’ve marked Laurent up he was sure the blonde would kill him if he left so much as a trace.

The faint touch of Damen’s lips was enough to draw a quiet gasp from Laurent. Damen already felt his cock react to the sound and did his best to steady his knees when he wrapped his arms around Laurent’s waist and got up in an attempt to carry him to the bed. 

“I can still walk, you know?”, Laurent chuckled while Damen stumbled into his bedroom and tried to set Laurent down gently. Damen kicked off his sneakers before climbing on top of Laurent and grinning down at him. 

“Let’s face it you like to see me use those muscles.”, he tried his best to sound seductive but failed miserably. Laurent shook his head placing small blonde strands placing themselves across his face.

“Shut up and get on with it before I change my mind.”, Laurent let out a laugh and bent his legs so he could get rid of his boots. 

Damen complied and placed kisses all over Laurent’s torso moving further down with each one until he reached a black leather belt. Below the belt there was a prominent bulge showing through expensive looking dress pants. Damen’s eyes darted up to Laurent who was watching him intently his lashes casting shadows.

Laurent’s look was all the permission Damen needed and his hands started to fumble with the belt before moving on to the fly of Laurent’s pants. Damen felt himself slowly running out of patience and hooked his fingers beneath the band off Laurent’s black boxer before pushing down all the fabric in one go.

Damen was met with the most gorgeous cock he had ever seen. And since he had quite the body count that actually was saying something. His own pants had become even tighter, if that was possible but Damen pushed that thought to the back of his mind while he returned to place kisses on Laurent’s pale skin. 

“I don’t…”, Laurent let out in between pants when Damen’s mouth got closer to his shaft. “I won’t reciprocate.” 

With a smile Damen lifted his head from where it was resting in between Laurent’s thighs. As if he would expect Laurent to return the favor. Receiving a blow job was only half as fun as giving one especially when the one you were giving it to was trying his best to keep quiet. Damen had always been a sucker for a challenge.

“I don’t care.”, he whispered and let his eyes flutter shut as he wrapped his lips around the flushed head. 

He could feel Laurent harden further inside of his mouth and slowly took in every single inch until he almost choked. 

“Shit.”, Laurent hissed and Damen drew back only to let his tongue swirl around the head before dipping into the slit. Finally he earned a moan from Laurent. It was stifled by Laurent’s hand in front of his mouth but it was unmistakably a moan.

When Damen moved to take in Laurent’s whole length again he felt a hand grab his hair and tucking at it gently. The tuck turned into a jank the second Damen started bobbing his head leisurely and he looked up at Laurent through his eyelashes.

Laurent looked like a wreck. There was a trail of saliva not completely wiped away from when he had been biting into the back of his hand. His cheeks were flushed dark red and his breathing was heavy.

“Please. I don’t want to come yet.”, Laurent was still panting and Damen felt pride beam in his chest. He had to be a natural after all if he could get Laurent to plead for him not to make him come even with a two-year break from sucking dick at all. 

Damen sat up with a lick of his lips the salty taste still on his tongue. Laurent propped himself up on his elbows and looked up at him his blue eyes dazed. When Laurent reached for the button of his jeans and pushed down the fabric mere seconds later Damen sighed at the removed pressure on his cock. 

“You must really like red.”, Laurent let out in a huff as he played with the band on Damen’s red boxers. Damen nodded wordlessly he knew red looked good on him and would never once apologize for wearing something red every day even if it was just his underwear.

Damen let his head fall back when slender fingers slipped into the boxers and wrapped around his throbbing cock. He bit back a moan when he realized Laurent froze for a moment and tried his best to ignore the sensation the simple touch sent through his body.

“Um. Don’t worry. I can bo-”, Damen started off in as calm a voice as he could muster up. It wasn’t unusual for his partners to be taken aback by his size and while he had taken it personally a few years ago he’d learned to find other ways to enjoy sex by now.

“As if I’m gonna give up this opportunity.”, Laurent interrupted Damen, his index finger placed upon Damen’s mouth. “Everywhere in proportion, huh?”

There was a glint of mischief in his blue eyes that left Damen feeling utterly helpless. He should’ve known from the start Laurent would be his doom. There was no way he’d get through a week of  _ this _ , blissful heaven, and just letting Laurent hop on a plane to New York after.

Laurent’s hand gave a teasing stroke that made Damen tremble before Laurent drew back all together and crawled towards Damen’s nightstand. 

“Upper drawer on the left.”, Damen said his voice hoarse. 

When Laurent returned with lube and a condom Damen grabbed both things from his hands and let their lips meet once more. Without breaking their kiss Damen slicked up his fingers and let his hand wander towards Laurent’s ass. 

His fingers circled the hole before he gently entered with one. Laurent let his head sink onto Damen’s shoulders. Damen could feel his heavy breathing on his own skin. He waited until Laurent eased up against him to start circling his finger slowly. 

“Can you just get on with it…”, Laurent groaned and arched into Damen’s touch. Damen curled his finger in return in an attempt to find the right spot and only added a second finger when Laurent’s breath hitched and he shook against Damen’s torso.

“I don’t want you to hurt.”, Damen mumbled and pressed a kiss onto silky blonde hair as he continued stretching Laurent. Every single stifled moan made Damen’s heart flutter.

Laurent didn’t complain anymore and fell to Damen’s mercy for a few minutes before he finally seemed to lose his patience. Damen didn’t complain because his own cock was twitching relentlessly in his boxers. 

“Can you fuck me already? I’ll be fine.”, Laurent breathed and Damen felt teeth graze his neck. He whined when Laurent drew back but got the hint and hurried to get rid of his boxers and rip open the condom. 

While Damen was busy rolling on the condom properly Laurent had placed himself on all fours his ass up in the air. 

“I want to see you.”, Damen leaned forward and whispered into Laurent’s ear. The warmth of Laurent’s back pressed against his chest until Laurent turned around and spread his legs so Damen could climb between them. 

They breathed each other’s air, their faces right in front of each other. All Damen could see were deep blue eyes as he lined himself up and let his head rest against Laurent’s entrance. 

It took all of Damen’s self-control to not immediately fuck into the tight heat engulfing him when he slowly pushed inside. He let his forehead rest on Laurent’s who had closed his eyes in an attempt to concentrate on steadying his breathing. 

Laurent eased up around Damen and his legs wrapped around Damen’s waist in an attempt to pull him closer as he bottomed out. 

“Fuck… Laurent… you’re perfect.”, Damen grunted out not able to keep his thoughts to himself and pressed a wet kiss onto Laurent’s mouth.

When Laurent in his arms Damen started moving slowly trying to angle himself right until Laurent couldn’t contain his moans anymore and all Damen could hear were his sweet sounds. 

He tried his best to keep the rhythm steady but failed to keep his composure and his thrusts sped up. His breathing heavy Damen reached for Laurent’s cock and began stroking him in time with his thrusts. 

The feel of Laurent clenching around him almost sent Damen over the edge and he buried his face in Laurent’s neck. When Damen inhaled the smell of Laurent’s shampoo paired with his aftershave he saw stars. A feeling rose in his chest that he had tried his best to contain over the whole evening.

With just a few more thrusts hitting right into his prostate Laurent came undone beneath him spilling all over his abdomen. Damen heard something vaguely resembling his name in between moans but maybe that was just his own dazed mind. 

_ I think I’m in love with you. _

Damen bit his lip hard to stop the words from spilling out as he chased his own orgasm. Seconds later he collapsed onto Laurent his vision turning a bright white. 

His breathing still heavy Damen pulled out, got up and tied the condom into a knot before throwing it away. He could feel Laurent’s eyes on him the whole time but didn’t dare to look at him until he was sitting down next to him again. 

He knew he was in way too deep for a ‘let’s see where this goes’ type of relationship. If he wasn’t sure before the sex had just wiped out any possible doubts. 

Silently Damen wiped away the mess on both their stomachs with his boxer before he let his arms wrap around Laurent’s waist and pulled him closer. He nuzzled his face against Laurent’s collarbone and let out a deep sigh. 

“I want you to stay.”, he mumbled well aware of how risky him voicing even the tiniest part of his thoughts could be. Whenever someone was coming on too strong at the start of a relationship you could bet on it to be Damen.

Damen’s worries were wiped away when Laurent pulled the sheets over them and gave a soft sound of approval against Damen’s curls. 

“You’ll have to take me home around 6 tomorrow.”, Laurent yawned and shuffled them around until he could place his head on Damen’s chest. Damen already felt his arm die but he didn’t care.

Watching Laurent’s breathing slowly calm down and his smell and warmth all around was worth any pain Damen would have to endure. 

They didn’t say anything so Damen’s mind was free to think of all the things he loved about Laurent. There was no way to turn back now so Damen let himself indulge in his thoughts while he played with Laurent’s hair until sleep finally came over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you stuck with me through this chapter you've really earned yourself a medal. Feel free to complain about my writing skills though.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after (fluff) and some angst because they're both helplessly in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am extremely sorry I couldn't keep my schedule. The chapter was finished yesterday but when I was editing it I felt like it was shit so I pretty much wrote it again today and yeah. (And compared to the last ones this chapter's really short, I'm so sorry guys)
> 
> School's starting again soon for me and I'll get a somewhat normal life again? So I was thinking about switching to a weekly schedule for now (so I have chapters waiting in case things get crazy).
> 
> So you may expect updates every Saturday (feel free to yell at me on Tumblr if I fail)

_ Laurent’s POV _

The next morning Laurent was awoken by the same old alarm he’d set on his phone. But instead of it lying right next to him the alarm came from somewhere else in the room. 

His eyes fluttered open and everything came back to him. Tanned skin was all over the place and soft curls tickled his own skin. 

When he shifted in an attempt to reach for his phone on the ground next to his pants he couldn’t contain a hiss at the soreness he felt. 

Damen rolled around next to him and wrapped his strong arms around Laurent’s waist. There was no way he could escape when Damen pulled him closer and drowsily nuzzled his face against Laurent’s back even if he had wanted to. At least the alarm had stopped for now.

“It’ll start again in five minutes. I have to get home and shower.”, Laurent whispered and let a hand trail over Damen’s arm. 

“No.”, was all Damen hummed against Laurent’s back and as if to prove a point one of his legs trapped Laurent under its weight. 

Laurent was almost tempted to just close his eyes again and stay in bed all day but he knew that the second Auguste got up and Laurent wasn’t safe and at home, the police would be knocking at the door anyway.

“Damen.”, he sighed trying his best to sound stern which proved to be quiet the challenge when he was basically wrapped in warmth.

“Gimme a second.”, Damen mumbled and shifted behind Laurent who tried his best to fight off the bright smile spreading all over his face. Damen’s arms made him feel safe. Everything about Damen seemed to be infuriatingly perfect. 

He regretted not making a move sooner. They could’ve had the summer of a lifetime and now all they were left with was a week. Unless…

Laurent pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He’d be damned to give up his whole career just to move to a place filled with shallow liers for a guy he’d been on  _ one _ date with.

Damen’s ‘second’ dragged on until the alarm sounded for the second time and Laurent wiggled out of Damen’s arms to get up for real and get his phone. Laurent only realized he’d actually slept naked when the chilly air hit his bare skin and left him shivering. 

His phone in hand he let himself be weak and climbed back into Damen’s arms. Damen was radiating heat and didn’t even so much as complain when Laurent’s cool skin pressed against his.

“You’ve got a maximum of ten minutes or I will drive myself and you won’t have your car.”, Laurent offered his voice sounding dangerously soft. He didn’t like the way Damen made him act or think. This was not  _ Laurent _ .

Damen muttered something inaudible and pressed a lazy kiss on Laurent’s forehead his dark eyes were still hazy with sleep but he seemed more awake now than before. 

“Are you okay?”, Damen’s voice was still slightly sluggish but laced with concern nevertheless. Laurent felt his chest tighten and let his hand run through Damen’s curls. They weren’t as smooth as his own hair but they still felt nice against his skin.

“Yes just a bit sore.”, Laurent smiled as he drew himself closer and pressed his face into Damen’s neck. He allowed himself to inhale the faint scent of cologne and the more prominent scent of Damen and sex.

Damen hummed approvingly and soothingly ran his hand up and down Laurent’s back. They laid there in silence for around 5 minutes and for once Laurent let himself simply enjoy the moment. 

New York was somewhere in the back of Laurent’s mind, almost pushed out completely. There was no way he could stay but with Damen next to him like this there was no way he could go either. 

“Why don’t we shower together and then I’ll drive you home.”, Laurent didn’t need to look up to hear the grin in Damen’s voice. Before he could answer Damen shuffled around until he kneeled on the bed and threw Laurent over his shoulder.

“Excuse me?”, Laurent protested weakly. He wouldn’t say it out loud but he loved how Damen was able to manhandle him in any way possible even if with 6’0 he wasn’t all that small or a lightweight for that matter.

“I don’t want you to leave yet.”, Damen sighed and set Laurent back down in the ensuite bathroom. The tiled floor was cool against his bare feet and Laurent had to summon all his self-control not to climb onto Damen again. 

“You’ll see me the whole day.”, Laurent scoffed and entered the shower in an attempt to flee the cold.

“That’s work and I didn’t…”, Damen fell silent as he slipped in as well and turned on the shower. A surge of ice-cold water had Laurent jumping back and cursing. 

“Sorry.”, Damen’s voice mumbled and the water turned warmer or maybe it was just Damen moving in closer, Laurent didn’t have it in him to care.

“I’m fine.”, Laurent whispered and wrapped his arms around Damen. Being with him seemed so easy when everything else in Laurent’s life had always been a challenge.

When their lips met again Laurent couldn’t contain his smile and leaned into Damen’s body. 

Time went by too quickly in Laurent’s opinion because after around 20 minutes they already stepped out of the shower.

While Laurent was busy trying to dry his hair without a hairdryer Damen, who apparently didn’t fear catching a cold, had gotten dressed and taken to collecting Laurent’s clothing.

“How do you survive? You’re barely a functioning adult.”, Laurent complained when Damen reappeared behind him in the mirror. Damen grinned and bend down to press a kiss on Laurent’s neck that sent shivers down his spine.

“I manage.”, Laurent could still sense him on his skin even though Damen was standing up straight again the height difference between them apparent. Damen had to be at least 6’5 the way he was towering over Laurent. 

After taking a deep breath, Laurent grabbed his clothing and started getting dressed as well. Damen had left again and by the noise coming from the kitchen Laurent assumed he was making coffee.

When he had made sure he didn’t forget any of his things and went to the kitchen he found he was right. Damen was leaning against the counter coffee cup in one hand and his phone in the other. 

“You ready to go?”, Laurent cleared his throat and took one sip out of a second cup on the counter only to almost spit it out right away. It was pure black coffee and while Laurent was sure it was  _ supposed _ to be some expensive ass one it tasted like shit. 

“Sure.”, Damen must have noticed Laurent’s strained expression because he sipped idly on his own coffee with a satisfied grin. “Knew you had a sweet tooth but I don’t have any sweeteners, sorry.”

“It’s fine.”, Laurent forced a smile. He couldn’t really expect Damen to accommodate his every need even if so far he’d done an excellent job. They both knew this would likely just be something temporary anyway.

Damen finished off his coffee before they went down to his car and took off for Auguste’s. Laurent’s hand had found its way into Damen’s somehow but neither of them complained. Damen had grown awfully quiet the closer they got to the Hills.

“I know we’re not… We’re just seeing where this is going. But how am I supposed to act around you all day? Do we tell others at all?”, he suddenly started removing his hand from Laurent’s to shift gears and placing it at the steering wheel afterward.

“Let’s try and act professional. I don’t want every single one of the crew to know about my sex life.”, Laurent answered truthfully and bit his lip when he saw a glint of hurt in Damen’s eyes. “Just in front of the ones that don’t know. I’m fine with Nikandros and Auguste though. I’m assuming you’ve told Nik?” 

“I did. I’m not so sure about kissing you in front of Auguste though. He might kill me.”, Damen’s face lit up a bit but he cringed at his last words.

“Then don’t. What a shame.”, Laurent laughed at the memory of Auguste threatening to murder Laurent’s first heartbreak if he ever found out his name. 

They fell silent again until Damen pulled up in Auguste’s driveway and stopped the car. 

“Thank you for-”, Damen started but Laurent decided he didn’t want to hear any goodbyes and leaned over to kiss him. Damen took a moment to process what was going on before his hands buried themselves in Laurent’s hair and he returned the kiss hungrily. 

Laurent felt heat pooling in his stomach and drew back again before Damen could affect him anymore. He would  _ not  _ walk into a ‘bro talk’, as Auguste liked to call them, with a hard-on. 

“I’ll see you later.”, Laurent said trying his best to conceal his ragged breath and got out of the car without waiting for a reply. His heart was still thrumming in his chest when he pressed his finger on the high tech lock and waited for the door to swing open.

Auguste must have been up unusually early because he was already sitting on of the sofas his legs crossed and coffee in hand. 

“He’s still staring after you.”, Auguste grinned and patted the cushions next to him. “Now, from what I can tell this is a walk of shame and you promised to tell me about the date so…”

“But please spare me the details of your night. I don’t need those images in my head.”, he added when Laurent decided resistance was useless and plopped down next to Auguste. 

“Where do you want me to start?”, Laurent sighed and ran his hands through his still-damp hair. 

While Laurent told Auguste about his date he noticed that he remembered the weirdest little things. He’d never call himself a romantic but suddenly he just had to close his eyes to be back in Damen’s arms the sound of waves crashing in the background.

“That’s so cute.”, Auguste exclaimed after Laurent had finished with a whole speech on why he shouldn’t even be going out with Damen. “You’re in love.”

“I’m not.”, Laurent scoffed and went to get up. Damen was a friend who just happened to be good in bed, overly caring and sweet and good looking. There was no way Laurent would have let himself fall in love with someone. 

Love was something for books, musicals or movies. In real life love didn’t exist. At least not that kind of love. 

Of course Laurent loved Auguste. He had loved their parents as well. But  _ love _ , the grand gesture kind, the relationship kind, wasn’t on the cards for him. 

Laurent appreciated Damen’s company. Damen made him feel good. That was all, he told himself over and over again. 

“Who are you trying to convince?”, Laurent heard Auguste shout from the living room but he was already up the stairs and on his way to his room. 

For the first time in his career he thought about taking a day off. He wouldn’t be able to live through today if he had to see Damen and sit silently during recording alone with his thoughts and Auguste’s comments. 

_ Damen’s POV _

The next few days went by in a haze. During work Laurent didn’t even so much as look at him except for a few short glances but all that was made up with nights spent at Damen’s. 

They had binged a whole show on Netflix although Damen couldn’t actually remember what it was about and weren’t leaving the bed much but Damen was content. He couldn’t imagine a life without Laurent anymore. 

Nik had warned Damen a few more times. He’d tried his best talking some sense into his best friend and really, Damen couldn’t blame him. The last time Nik had seen him this way had been with Jokaste and they both knew how that had ended.

But Laurent was different. Laurent would be gone soon anyway. Damen was already expecting the heartbreak. This time he could brace himself and try to cherish every little second for what it was. 

He still dreaded Sunday nevertheless. Laurent had booked his plane ticket yesterday and texted Damen the time and place. They hadn’t talked about it any other time. It felt like the end was looming over them, or, it didn’t just feel like it because they literally were about to end already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks for reading up until now!
> 
> We have around 5 more chapters to go until this fic gets to an end but I might still write some one-shots in this universe!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurent's last night in LA. Some more angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I go again.  
> I'm sorry to all of you who wanted them to make things right, this is somewhat angsty again. I'll promise you it'll get better though!  
> As always enjoy!

_ Laurent’s POV _

Laurent had finished packing up his suitcase. Now only an outfit for tomorrow was laid out on the bed and his laptop was still on the nightstand. It had been almost impossible to convince Auguste not to throw a goodbye party but when Laurent threatened to never come back again he’d backed off.

Tomorrow he would be back in New York again. Back to his old life. Back to normalcy and back to a job that he actually enjoyed. But there was this weird sting in his chest. Laurent knew too well what, or rather who was causing it.

Laurent sighed and let himself sink down on the bed. This past week Damen had proven to be perfect in every single way. They hadn’t spoken about tomorrow except for when Damen had asked for a single night and Laurent had denied him.

He’d thought it would be best to rip off the band-aid right away. Every second he kept it on would increase his chance to surrender and never take it off. Laurent simply couldn’t let himself be tempted by some romance running along. 

Even if his parents were dead he still wanted to prove he could do it too. It wasn’t even about making his parents or Auguste proud anymore. Laurent wanted to succeed so desperately because he wanted to  _ belong _ . 

Staying here with Damen and giving this relationship a chance would wipe out anything Laurent had worked for his whole life. There was no way he’d do that. 

But then the image of dark eyes with honey-colored specks imprinted itself into Laurent’s mind and he wondered if he might regret this. Might regret leaving. 

It was almost ridiculous how much he missed Damen’s bright smile and obnoxiously loud laughter already. 

“This isn’t fair.”, Laurent groaned and buried his face in his palms before giving in and pulling out his phone. 

He typed the message what felt like a million times before he was finally satisfied and pressed send. 

_ [08:37 pm] Are you at home? _

The second Damen was online Laurent regretted texting him in the first place. This was stupid. He had been the one who said there was no future. He had been the one who said he didn’t want a long and dragged out goodbye. 

_ [08:39 pm] Yeah _

_ [08:39 pm] Had a change of heart? :) _

Laurent didn’t notice he was biting his lip until he tasted iron and let out a curse. There was no way to redeem himself now anyway, was there? He stood up on autopilot and went to Auguste’s key safe. 

While he entered the code Auguste must’ve snook up on him because the second Laurent turned, car key in hand, he looked into deep blue eyes laced with concern. 

“Where are you going? You know I could drive you.”, Auguste crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was already in his pajamas, his hair still damp from taking a shower after his daily workout. 

“I’m very much capable of driving myself.”, Laurent tried desperately to evade talking about Damen  _ again _ . Auguste was definitely way too invested in his little brother’s love life although Laurent really couldn’t blame him for being nosy when Laurent never had told him about any other relationship, not that there was much to tell.

“I know.”, Auguste’s voice softened though he still looked suspicious. “I’d like to drive you though. You’re leaving tomorrow and I probably won’t see you for months, remember?”

Laurent’s chest hurt at the reminder. It wasn’t like he had forgotten that he was leaving tomorrow. He just hadn’t thought of leaving Auguste as well. All that had been on his mind lately was Damen and he couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. 

“Fine. It’s Damen’s.”, Laurent sighed and handed Auguste the key hesitantly. A grin spread over Auguste’s face and made Laurent almost regret his decision momentarily.

They went into the garage silently. Only when they sat down in the e-tron, the smell of new car still filling the air, Laurent saw a frown on Auguste’s face and braced himself for one of his famous talks. 

“So, what are you gonna do? Break up? Were you even official?”, Auguste started questioning and Laurent felt himself tense up. All these questions were things he had pushed to the back of his mind in order to appreciate the time he spent with Damen.

Of course he had tried to think about them before but there never seemed to be any solutions so he gave up and focused on chatting with his new producer or coworkers and planning his return.

“We’ll call it off. We were never really a thing anyway.”, Laurent choked out, the words almost stuck in his throat. He didn’t  _ want _ to call it off. But it was for the best. Long-distance never worked. It was only an unnecessary distraction.

“So what’s this supposed to be? Goodbye?”, Auguste went on with his questions, way too persistent for Laurent’s taste who simply wanted to get this ride over with. 

Immediately guilt pooled in his stomach. He shouldn’t feel that way about spending time with Auguste. Not when he wouldn’t see him for a long time. That was what Damen did to him. He turned him into a selfish prick. It was probably for the best that they would end after all.

“Yup.”, Laurent popped the p and took out his phone to send Damen a warning. 

_ [09:01 pm] Be there in 20. _

The second he had hit send Laurent turned off his phone and placed it in his pocket. He should enjoy the time with Auguste even if Damen was the one thing constantly on his mind. 

Auguste had taken a hint and stopped pestering Laurent about Damen. Instead they talked about Laurent’s new job and Auguste’s plans for starting a YouTube channel. Something Laurent had hoped would never happen because surely enough he’d someday end up being the main star of one of the videos.

When Auguste stopped the car at Damen’s apartment complex they fell silent. Laurent didn’t dare to get out yet. He knew he should’ve stuck to his plan of just forgetting about whatever this was and moving on but he simply couldn’t.

“It’ll be fine. Call me when you need me to pick you up.”, Auguste forced a smile and squeezed Laurent’s shoulder gently. 

“Yeah…”, Laurent mumbled and leaned over to pull Auguste a hug. His brother took a moment to realize what he was doing before returning the hug. Laurent usually didn’t seek out physical contact but at this moment he realized just how lucky he was to have someone like Auguste in his life. “Thank you.”

After a short moment Laurent pulled back again and got out of the car. His heart started racing in his chest as he walked up to the door and pressed on the sign with Damen’s name on it. 

_ Damen’s POV _

Laurent took a whole 5 minutes to get up to Damen’s floor. 5 minutes in which Damen continued overthinking. He was happy to see Laurent once more, obviously, but there was something bittersweet about it.

Just yesterday Laurent had told him this was goodbye for real. Now he was coming over again. 

The second Damen had gotten the text he had canceled his plans with Nik who, justifiably, had screamed at him over the phone in turn. 

‘Can’t you see he’s stringing you along? You’ll be a mess the second he leaves but you still don’t care do you? How the fuck can you be so naive.’, Nik had said and the words still rung in Damen’s ears. He was right. In the end he was always right.

But there was still a glimmer of hope inside Damen. Maybe, just maybe, Laurent would agree to give them a real chance. God knows Damen would be willing to do anything for a chance with Laurent.

The last week had been everything he ever wanted. Laurent was everything he ever wanted.

And then he opened the door and Laurent was standing in front of him. Grey sweatpants on and his hair lazily pushed back into a bun and he was still the most gorgeous person on this planet. Hell, in this universe.

“Don’t talk.”, Laurent breathed before Damen had the chance to open his mouth and slim arms wrapped around him. Damen could feel Laurent’s breathing on his skin where his blonde head was nuzzled into his neck. 

Damen let his chin rest on Laurent’s head and breathed in the scent of his shampoo. His arms naturally found their way around Laurent’s waist and drew him closer. How could he ever live without this again?

They stood there for a few minutes before Laurent straightened himself and walked into the living room where he sat down on the couch. Damen followed him helplessly but didn’t sit down. 

Instead he stood in the middle of the room unsure of what to do next and earned a confused look from Laurent. 

“I know you don’t want to talk. I know you want to end this. But if you really meant that you wouldn’t be here.”, he blurted out although he had meant to keep his thoughts to himself and take whatever Laurent would give him. Laurent’s face turned into a frown and Damen noticed how he tensed up.

“You’re right. I don’t want to talk.”, Laurent’s voice was cold as ice and it sent shivers down Damen’s spine. He didn’t want to see Laurent this way. Seeing him this way made Damen’s whole insides hurt.

“Please just hear me out. We could do this. We could make it work if we just…”, Damen fell silent when blue eyes glared at him. 

“And how the fuck do you imagine it going down? There’s a 3 hour time difference. I’ll be at rehearsals all day anyway. I can’t put my life on hold for you. I can’t give up my career. I can’t risk being distracted. I  _ love  _ my job.”, Laurent grit out still trying his best to keep his composure.

“You can’t just expect me to move on.”, Damen whispered and took a step towards Laurent who didn’t let any kind of reaction show. 

“Look. I get that you’ll be busy. I get that long distance is almost always doomed. But I won’t ask anything of you other than you not blocking me and talking to me whenever you have the time.”, he continued and let himself sink down onto the cushions next to Laurent. Hesitantly he reached out his hand, not really daring to touch Laurent but still wanting to.

Laurent stayed silent but grabbed Damen’s hand the touch warm and comforting. Damen could hear his own blood rushing through him and his heart beating. It felt like his whole life was resting in Laurent’s hands.

“I’d get up extra early for morning calls. We can facetime while I’m at the gym I don’t care, really. If you just let me…”, Damen added when the silence felt to torturous to bare. Finally, Laurent’s face softened although the frown was still visible. 

“I’d fly over every once in a while. I’d have a front-row seat in each show you do while I’m there.”, he bared all of his hopes and dreams in front of Laurent now. He knew this was dangerous. He knew Laurent could crush everything in a matter of seconds.

“I don’t just want to lose you like this.”, Damen whispered and brushed his thumb over Laurent’s palm mindlessly the gesture calming him a bit. Laurent leaned over and placed his other hand on Damen’s cheek.

“Me neither.”, he let out almost inaudible and the corner of his lip turned upwards. Damen felt ecstatic. He had gone all in and he’d won the prize. Or so he thought until Laurent read his expression and furrowed his brows. 

“We’re still not doing a long-distance relationship though.”, Laurent pressed blue eyes locking with Damen’s whose heart stopped right that moment. 

“I thought…”, Damen tried to get the words out ‘I thought you felt the same way. I thought I convinced you.” but it wouldn’t work instead Laurent gave him a sad smile.

“We’ll stay in touch. We can talk on the phone. We can facetime. You’ll get an invite to opening night just as Auguste.  _ But no relationship. _ ”, Laurent spoke the last words agonizingly slow as if Damen wouldn’t get it otherwise. He forced himself to nod.

He would take any bone Laurent threw at him. Still, Damen yearned for more. Even if it had to be long-distance Damen wanted to call Laurent  _ his _ . He wanted to be  _ Laurent’s. _

And then Laurent climbed on top of him and their mouths clashed together in what had turned into a routine over the last week. Damen couldn’t help to lose himself in Laurent’s kiss until some voice of reason screamed in the back of his head. 

“Wait. Didn’t you just say? No relationship?”, he asked panting and Laurent threw his head back in laughter. A tiny snort escaped him and Damen wanted to capture that moment and treasure it forever even if Laurent was laughing at him.

“I won’t rob myself of physical pleasure just for the sake of being chaste.”, Laurent’s hands were already wandering beneath the fabric of Damen’s shirt as he purred into his ear.

How could Damen say no? With Laurent right in front of him there was no other choice. There would never be another choice. Even if that choice would leave Damen’s heart in pieces. Even if he already knew he wouldn’t be able to stand only thinking of Laurent with someone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided on not writing the smut this time bc I didn't feel like it and there would've been no point to the story. I might add it someday though.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for reading and see you next Saturday!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurent's back in the big apple, but there's a little someone distracting him with snaps and calls. Damen gets jealous and in turn, does something stupid (no surprise there).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I go again, in case you follow me on Tumblr you probably already know this but I had a burst of inspiration and energy lately so I got done a whole lot of writing (which tbh is the best timing bc I don't know if I could've kept up the schedule otherwise bc I'm going back to school on Monday, 'yay').
> 
> This fic is very slowly coming to an end (at least if I stick to my outline) but there's at least 2-3 chapters left soo yeah.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!

_ Laurent’s POV _

It had been a month. A whole month since he’d left California and moved back to New York. His landlord had apparently found someone who was willing to pay even more than Laurent over the summer so he was stuck with a roommate now.

He’d been lucky to even know someone in need of a roommate or otherwise he would’ve had to rent one of the shoeboxes that cost around 2000$ a month. Granted, his current room wasn’t that much bigger but at least they had something remotely resembling a living space with a two-seater couch and a small TV. 

Living with another person who wasn’t Auguste had soon gotten on his nerves so Laurent had taken to spending most of his time in coffee shops. Nicaise was annoying, loud, and worst of all nosy. 

Laurent was sitting at a window table looking out over the street where people hurried along either looking at the ground or on some screen. A smile snook onto his face. The way you could be totally invisible to anyone else all the while never really being alone was something he loved about this city. He’d missed it.

When the barista brought Laurent a new cup of coffee he decided to stop people watching and returned his focus on the loose pages splayed before him. 

The production was just in the beginning and lucky enough Laurent still had some free time. Time that he should use to memorize his lines and mark demanding parts he would have to focus on.

However, the second his phone chimed Laurent’s hand darted to his bag to grab it and was pleased to see his expectation had been met. It was a snap from no other than Damen. 

Laurent knew he shouldn’t indulge in this. In the end, staying friends had turned out to be torture. But whenever he gathered enough self-control not to look at Damen’s message right away or to decline a facetime call the image of Damen and his big sad puppy eyes imprinted itself on Laurent’s mind and he gave in again.

Taking a sip from his mug Laurent opened the picture and let his lips curl up against it. Damen was wearing a long-sleeved shirt for once paired with loose shorts. However the additional fabric was absolutely unnecessary because the fabric was so tight you could see every single muscle, especially with the way Damen was posing in front of the mirror. ‘Guess who’s letting themselves get tortured by Nik.’, was the caption. 

Laurent shook his head and set the mug down and gathered the papers in an attempt to take a good looking snap. Although he already knew Damen would complain about him not showing his face. 

Seconds later his screen lit up again with a new message. This time the snap was a close-up of Damen pouting just as expected. ‘Why you gotta rob me of your face all the time?’

Laurent smiled to himself and before he could answer there was another snap. A video of an annoyed Nikandros readying the weights and the caption ‘gotta go facetime later?’.

He couldn’t help to breathe a little heavier through his nose before opening up his front camera and making sure he didn’t look like shit. After what felt like hours of running his fingers through his hair Laurent was finally satisfied and took a selfie. ‘There you go and yes’.

It didn’t make sense how much Laurent still cared about looking good for Damen. It didn’t make sense that they were talking so much when originally Laurent wanted to get rid of the distraction. But there was no way to stop now. Damen’s messages and calls were all Laurent looked forward to throughout the whole day.

When Laurent got home Nicaise was lounging on their small couch talking to someone on the phone while painting his nails. The smell of the nail polish burned in Laurent’s nose and he rushed to rip open the small window.

“What the fuck, dude?! It’s freezing!”, Nicaise complained. Laurent looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Sure, it was kind of chilly but if you didn’t feel the need to lounge around in nothing but silk shorts and a crop top it was still bearable.

“If you wouldn’t poison the whole air in our apartment with that shit I wouldn’t need to open the window.”, Laurent answered dryly and set down his bag.

“Sorry gotta go, my roommate’s an asshole.”, Nicaise mumbled into his phone and fumbled with his phone until he managed to hang up without messing up his nails.

“Why thank you.”, Laurent rolled his eyes and put away his things before he went to the kitchen and looked at Nicaise who was still idly waiting for his nails to dry. “I’m cooking dinner. Want some?”

While Nicaise might’ve been annoying most of the time, Laurent felt the need to take care of him. He didn’t actually know how old Nicaise was but he looked as if he’d just left his parents’ house and was living alone for the first time. Well, he didn’t just look like it, he acted like it too. 

“What are you making?”, Nicaise cocked his head as if his meal plan consisting mostly of cold pizza would be better than anything Laurent would make.

“Chicken with some vegetables.”, Laurent sighed as he took out all the ingredients and started arranging everything. Nicaise made a retching sound at that and shook his head.

Laurent actually doubted Nicaise could avoid getting diabetes or something if he continued living like that but in the end he couldn’t do anything but offer. And offer he did, way more often than he’d ever admit to himself.

_ Damen’s POV _

The second Damen got out of the shower back at home he slipped on some sweatpants and plopped down on the couch with a cold bowl of food he’d prepared last weekend. 

He started the video call on autopilot. Everything Laurent went on autopilot these days. Whenever he saw a good meme or a picture of a cute cat or dog he’d sent it to Laurent. Whenever something funny happened at the gym he texted Laurent. And whenever he had some time on his hands he’d call Laurent.

Damen was aware that they were nothing but friends. At least that’s what he told Nik whenever he earned another glare because he’d been grinning at his phone instead of paying attention to what was going on around them.

But this whole thing didn’t feel like just friends. They still flirted. If Damen felt particularly confident he’d sent suggestive snaps. Laurent had only ever replied with one himself once. That one time, however, was enough to get Damen’s hopes up. It had certainly been enough to haunt him in his dreams for over a week.

Laurent took a few minutes to answer but then he appeared on the screen and Damen felt as if his whole world just lit up. He was wearing a cozy-looking sweater and a blue scarf that brought out his eyes even over the screen. 

“Give me a second.”, Laurent’s voice sounded angelical. Damen hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it until he heard it again. Even though they had spoken to each other just the other day.

The picture started shaking a bit until Laurent’s phone was set down on the counter and Damen could see bits of the kitchen. Laurent’s hand still blocked half of the frame though as he apparently tried to balance it out. 

“What are you making? Care to send me some over?”, Damen joked and Laurent shook his head, his lips still curling upsides slightly anyway. 

“You already got food as far as I can see.”, Laurent grinned and moved away from the camera to stir something on the stove. 

“I bet you it isn’t nearly as good as yours.”, Damen made a show of taking a bite and grimacing while chewing. “See.”

Laurent’s laugh came through the speakers and made Damen’s chest tighten. He still couldn’t believe he actually succeeded in making Laurent laugh. 

“Ugh, this actually smells good. Now I’m hungry.”, another voice came through, probably Laurent’s roommate. He didn’t talk much about him except for complaining about how annoying he was so Damen had no idea what he actually was like. 

A boyish figure appeared in the background dressed in a wisp of nothing. It was cold in New York. Damen had looked it up just this morning. There was really no point in walking around like that unless…

Heat flared up all over Damen’s body and he felt his chest tighten painfully at the thought he didn’t finish. He’d always thought Laurent’s type was something different. Something more like himself. Or at least he’d allowed himself to think that.

Maybe Laurent didn’t have a type at all or Damen had just been an exception. In the end Laurent had been the one who didn’t want a relationship. Laurent had been the one who didn’t want to commit. Maybe that had a whole different reason after all. 

“You retched at the thought of eating my food. I’ll be damned to give you some now.”, Damen heard Laurent comment but it all felt distant. His eyes were still fixated on the silky shorts and exposed skin. His mind still wandering to possible scenarios of Laurent touching said skin. 

“Whatever. I still got some pizza.”, the roommate grimaced in the background before moving out of the frame, probably disappearing into his room. Or Laurent’s room? Damen couldn’t stop his thoughts trailing off. 

Even when Laurent rolled his eyes at the camera and started talking about his day, Damen couldn’t get the thoughts out of his head. His stomach clenched with every picture his mind conjured up and it felt as if Laurent was stabbing him over and over again. 

Laurent hadn’t even done anything wrong, probably. It was Damen who was, as Nik liked to put it, a fucking lost cause, and overthinking again. 

It took Damen a moment until he realized Laurent had fallen silent and was watching him questioningly. Damen scolded himself for letting his emotions get the better of him once again and shook his head to get rid of the pictures. 

“I asked you what you thought of me cutting my hair.”, Laurent cleared his throat and gestured to the loose bun on top of his head. Damen remembered Laurent complaining about it taking to long to dry and most of his hair ties breaking but he was biased so he couldn’t help but frown. 

“I’m sure it would look good too but I love…”, Damen fell silent. What exactly did he love? Running his fingers through it? It wasn’t as if he could actually do that so he supposed it didn’t really matter. 

“I miss you.”, Damen sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was way too worked up right now to keep it to himself so against his better judgment it just slipped out. Laurent paused his cooking for a moment and stared at the screen and Damen’s heart dropped. 

Of course he had to fuck it all up again. They had agreed to keep things light and platonic. And there he was getting all jealous and whiny and everything not light and platonic. 

“I miss you too.”, the words were almost inaudible but the slight smile on Laurent’s face confirmed that, in fact, Damen hadn’t imagined them.

Suddenly his whole mood shifted. His jealousy almost completely wiped away. As if on autopilot he could feel himself pulling up the websites and only when he had already booked the flight and hotel room he realized that he had just spent a whole 1000 dollars on a whim.

“Did you have anything planned this weekend?”, Damen asked sheepishly and bit his lip. If he told Laurent about what he just did he’d probably be forced to cancel as long as it was still possible. But Damen found that he didn’t want to. Even if Laurent would slam the door in his face it would’ve been worth it just to see him again. 

“Not really no. I still have to go over the script some more so probably that.”, Laurent furrowed his brows as if he was suspecting something and Damen tried his best not to give away anything. 

“That’s cool. When’s the show opening again?”, Damen attempted to change the subject. Fortunately he was successful enough because Laurent gave him a single doubtful look before switching back to their usual conversation.

The rest of the week went by in a haze. When Damen had texted Auguste to ask for Laurent’s address he was met with a whole lot of questions followed by some threats of what would happen to him if he hurt Laurent in any way shape or form. In the end Auguste had agreed not to tell Laurent anything and sent over the address with a winky face though so that could be counted as a success. 

Nik had agreed to drive him to the airport after an hour-long speech on how Damen should stop running after people who would never do the same for him. In his defense, Damen was almost sure that Laurent would, in his own way.

While Damen was boarding he got a snap from Laurent. It was a picture of a pile of rather flashy clothing and a complaint of how his roommate was the worst person to live with. Damen almost answered with a snap himself before he remembered where he was and sent a text saying he was on the way to the gym and they could talk later.

For a moment he thought about whether this was a good idea but in the end, it was already too late. During the whole flight Damen tried to plan out what he would say, how he would explain him showing up at Laurent’s door but he couldn’t come up with anything but the truth, hoping it would be enough in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you for sticking with me up until now. I appreciate every single one of you who keeps up with this fic (at some point you were all that kept me going haha) :)
> 
> I'll see you next week!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damen shows up at Laurent's door. They need to work things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter and this one's a happier one yayy  
> Exam season is slowly creeping up on me so I might not hit the schedule next week (but this chapter's early so bare with me?)  
> Anyways  
> Enjoy!

_ Laurent’s POV _

Damen hadn’t texted him yet so Laurent just assumed he was still at the gym. Although it had already been 3 hours. Maybe he just forgot about Laurent? After all, Laurent wasn’t entitled to any texts.

Laurent was lounging on the couch, scrolling through his Instagram and waiting for Nicaise to finish blocking the bathroom, when the doorbell rang. The shower didn’t stop running so either Nicaise hadn’t heard it or had decided to ignore it, probably the latter one though and that was just plain rude. 

With a groan Laurent got up and walked over to the door. 

“You know you could at least schedule your hookups for when I’m not at home.”, he yelled through the whole apartment as he slammed the door open. “He’ll be ready in-”

Laurent fell silent when he recognized the figure standing in front of him. His whole body froze, his mouth gaping open. 

Damen ran a hand through his dark curls. They were pushed down slightly on the left side, probably from the flight. It didn’t seem real. There was no way Damen could be here. There was no way Damen would actually have flown out, right? This had to be a dream.

“Laurent. I’m…”, Damen started off but before he could say anything else Laurent grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. Damen’s lips were slightly chapped and he tasted like cheap airport coffee but that didn’t matter. Laurent felt Damen’s warm hands cupping his face and let out a small sigh. 

Damen muttered something against his lips and drew back reluctantly. Suddenly Laurent realized just how much he had craved his touch for the last few weeks. Sure, there had been certain dreams but Laurent had always written them off as his body missing the sex.

This was something else though. While Laurent wouldn’t mind having sex right that moment the thing he wanted the most was Damen close, no matter how. 

Laurent took a deep breath and scrunched his nose at the smell coming from Damen. It was different, even if it still smelled good. 

“You’ve got a new cologne.”, he heard himself say more calmly than he expected it to sound. Damen smiled, the dimple on his left cheek all too prominent, and nodded. 

“Is it good? I can stop using it if you don’t like it.”, Damen looked nervous. He was shifting in his place every few seconds, a look that didn’t suit him. 

“No, it’s fine.”, Laurent hurried to let him know and stepped back, gesturing for Damen to enter. It would be childish to ask Damen to switch back to his old cologne just so that he would smell familiar and Laurent was more  _ comfortable _ around him.

“Care to tell me what brought you here? You’re supposed to be on the other side of the country, remember?”, he pressed with pursed lips when Damen stepped in and looked around taking in the small apartment in all its unorganized glory. Laurent would’ve been ashamed had he been the one the mess belonged to. 

“Right, about that…”, Damen bit his lip and grimaced. His shoulders heaved up and down when he took a deep breath bracing himself. 

His uneasiness transferred over to Laurent in a matter of seconds. He wanted to shut Damen up. Stop him from ruining whatever they had. 

In the end, Laurent didn’t have to because Nicaise stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in just a baby blue towel and his eyes flicked over Damen intently. 

“Laurent, I’m shocked. I honestly didn’t think you had it in you.”, a smirk placed itself on Nicaise’s face as he gave Laurent a wink. Laurent felt his cheeks heat up and tried his best to fight back the color spreading on his face. 

When neither Laurent nor Damen said anything Nicaise rolled his eyes pointedly.

“Are you going to introduce me or what?”, Nicaise cocked his head to the side, wet curls falling into his face. Laurent forced a smile and looked between the two of them.

“Damen, this is Nicaise, my dearest roommate. Nicaise, this is Damen.”, he introduced them, intentionally leaving out Damen’s description because, well, he didn’t know what Damen was to him.

A friend wouldn’t exactly fit because as far as Laurent knew friends didn’t kiss each other randomly. But they weren’t dating either so best to leave it uncommented.

Damen’s face faltered for a short second. his expression betraying his true sentiments toward Nicaise. It left Laurent wondering what Nicaise had done to him. It wasn’t as if Damen had been the one to put up with all of his annoying little habits.

“Well, nice to meet you Damen. Don’t keep quiet for my sake.”, Nicaise grinned before he made his way to his room leaving the two alone again. Since Laurent suspected he’d probably still try to listen through the closed door he grabbed his jacket and wallet and dragged Damen out the door. 

“Let’s do this somewhere where we’re not tonight’s entertainment.”, Laurent sighed and Damen followed him, a startled look spreading all over his face. Right, he had been right in the middle of telling Laurent why he showed up out of nowhere, without a single word of warning.

They went to a small coffee shop and took Laurent’s usual seat in the left corner. Damen ordered a black decaf while Laurent switched to tea for once. The second the waitress left their table Laurent felt Damen’s hands brushing over his. There was an uncertainty to the touch, as if he was afraid of being rejected. 

Laurent couldn’t imagine refusing Damen’s touch now, not when it had been all he’d craved for all this time. His fingers intertwined with Damen’s as if it was the most natural thing in the world and he tried his best to give the other an encouraging smile. 

He’d never been good at this. The only thing he knew how to do around people was act. The few occasions where Auguste forced him to talk about his feelings excluded.

“I’m not complaining you know, but I’d still like to know why you came.”, he let out quietly when Damen didn’t say anything. His dark eyes were simply staring at their hands before he drew his gaze away to look at Laurent. 

“I missed you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and honestly I don’t even remember booking the ticket all that well. When we facetimed I got so jealous of Nicaise for being able to spend time with you and then you said you missed me too, and I don’t know I thought maybe it would be a good idea.”, Damen started rambling, his hands still warm against Laurent’s through it all. Laurent stayed silent, nodding occasionally whenever Damen was getting quieter.

A pleasant warmth spread throughout Laurent’s body with each word his brain made sense of. He was well aware that he probably should stop this before it was too late but he felt like he’d missed that point long ago.

“And I  _ know _ . You said no too often already but I don’t care if I have to ask a million times because as long as you let me I probably won’t stop. I want this to be more. I want to tell people that I’m dating this amazing guy when they flirt with me because I have no interest in seeing anyone else and I want to visit you  _ regularly _ without it being weird and I want…”, Damen broke off with a sigh and drew one of his hands away to run it over his face. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done this. Nik warned me not to. It’s too much, I know.”, he looked more unsure than ever before, not even daring to look into Laurent’s face. 

Laurent probably wouldn’t admit it out loud but he had thought about it as well. There had been a few occasions where he had been seconds away from asking Damen if his offer was still on the table. 

Some things hadn’t changed though. He still couldn’t deal with any distractions and he still didn’t want to do this long distance. What had changed though was that Laurent knew he wanted  _ this _ . 

“Yes.”, Laurent pressed out, the single word heavy on his tongue, and gave Damen’s hand a gentle squeeze. 

Damen looked at him as if he’d just spoken a completely different language. Laurent shook his head and sighed. 

“Don’t make me regr-”, he started off in an attempt to stop the lingering silence but when Damen finally realized what his answer had been all breath was pushed out of Laurent’s lungs when Damen’s arms wrapped around him. The table almost flipped when Damen’s thigh banged against it but he didn’t seem to care. 

“Laurent.”, Damen grinned and left a trail of kisses along Laurent’s cheek. Laurent felt the gaze of a few other customers on them and felt his face burn up. He hated causing a scene so he placed his hands against Damen’s chest and pushed him away gently. 

“Let’s just calm down a bit.”, he muttered unable to convert the smile on his face into a more serious look. Damen let himself sink back down into his seat with a fake pout but still reached out to brush a strand of blonde hair out of Laurent’s face before grabbing his hand.

“Don’t you think I’ve waited long enough?”, Damen asked innocently as his thumb traced the lines in Laurent’s palm. The touch was calming and unsettling at the same time. It was as if Laurent was high on endorphins.

“I think you’ll be able to last another 20 minutes.”, Laurent remarked and drew his hand away from Damen’s when the waitress returned with their order. The thought of people staring at them, intruding in their tiny little bubble stressed Laurent out. 

He could feel Damen’s disappointed look on him as he took a sip of his tea, almost burning his mouth. A grimace spread over his face at the sharp pain and Laurent set down his cup with a sigh.

“You probably imagined this differently. I’m sorry.”, Laurent bit his lip and let his eyes dart up to look at Damen again. Damen shook his head vehemently and shrugged.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Whatever you’re comfortable with. As long as I can brag.”, there was a spark in his dark eyes at the last sentence that made Laurent’s stomach clench.

“About that… I don’t mind you telling people, just… don’t post about it? Or at least don’t tag me? You know, I’m not actually out yet and I like to keep my personal life to myself so…”, Laurent tried to let Damen down easy. It wasn’t as if Laurent wanted them to be a secret. He didn’t care if everyone they met knew as long as they didn’t turn into that annoying couple shoving it in everyone’s face until they broke up a few weeks later.

“I’m completely fine with that, really.”, Damen shrugged, sounding not at all ‘completely fine’ but Laurent decided to let it go. 

“Alright then. Do you want my schedule for the next month? I can give you access to my Google Calendar because I doubt you’ll be as lucky with the next surprise visits.”, Laurent offered, already unlocking his phone. 

“Do I get free front row tickets?”, Damen grinned and propped his head up on his hands. His dimple was hidden but he looked beautiful nevertheless. 

“I usually get two free tickets yes, but I don’t know if they’ll let you sit front row each time.”, Laurent heard himself answer before he could stop himself from assuming anything. Damen might’ve told him what he imagined them dating once but that didn’t mean his thoughts hadn’t changed. 

“Am I allowed to throw a bouquet of roses at the end of the show?”, Damen took a sip of his coffee but even with the cup covering half of his face his grin was still visible enough. 

“Don’t you dare.”, Laurent groaned, although he had to admit that the thought wasn’t all that bad. 

When they’d finished their drinks Damen insisted on paying which Laurent let happen after a few words of weak protest. 

They decided on going to Damen’s hotel if only to avoid Nicaise’s comments. Damen had grabbed Laurent’s hand somewhere on the way and refused to let go of it until they arrived in the hotel lobby. 

The second the elevator doors closed Laurent gave into his desires and wrapped his arms around Damen’s neck drawing him as close as physical possible. 

“How long are you staying?”, he mumbled against Damen’s cheek feeling a slight stubble against his lips were they brushed over the skin. 

“I’ll stay for as long as you want me to if I find a way to create content by myself.”, Damen replied his hands finding their way to Laurent’s waist. His thumbs pushed beneath the fabric of Laurent’s thick sweater and pressed into his skin. 

“You know it doesn’t work that way.”, with a sigh Laurent drew back but he was held back by Damen’s steady grip. 

“My flight back is on monday morning but I’d prefer to strike that from my memory for now.”, Damen’s gaze lingered on Laurent’s lips for a moment before he bowed down to place a chaste kiss on them. 

Laurent was all too willing to give in to Damen’s request. He leaned into the kiss allowing himself to get lost in Damen’s touch that shouldn’t have been as comforting as it was.

The elevator came to a halt way too early and Laurent reluctantly broke away breathing in used air as he lingered close for a second too long. 

Damen took a deep breath before he took Laurent’s hand again and lead him down the corridor where they stopped for him to unlock the door. 

The room was still empty, nothing had been placed down except for a suitcase right in the middle. Damen must’ve rushed right from the airport to get to Laurent. It was endearing to know someone cared that much. 

“We can split the costs next time. I don’t want you to spend too much money on me.”, Laurent let out when he realized how much this whole weekend had to cost Damen. Now that they were in a relationship Laurent should probably take on at least half of it because in the end, he got as much out of Damen’s visit as Damen himself. 

“It’s fine. As long as you’ll let me stay at your place next time it’s not too expensive.”, Damen shrugged it off and laughed at Laurent’s grimace at the thought of being trapped in the small apartment with 2 other people. 

“I should look for a new place then. I don’t want Nicaise spying on us. Plus I’m always complaining about his hookups…”, Laurent cringed but Damen didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Instead there was a smug look spreading over his face. 

“You could give him a taste of his own medicine.”, Damen breathed, leaning down to press soft kisses on Laurent’s sensitive neck. 

“Or we could turn it into a game. If I make you lose control you’ll have to grant me a wish.”, Damen’s voice was low, the vibrations sensible on Laurent’s skin. It sent shivers down his spine.

“We’ll see about that.”, Laurent choked out the words but Damen already had him backed against the bed. His legs gave in the second he felt the sheets against them and Laurent couldn’t do anything but let himself get lost in every single touch Damen granted him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> The end is near. I'm not sure yet whether it's going to be one last chapter that's longer than the others or if I'll divide it into 2 more chapters but yeah we'll see.  
> I'd also like to thank everyone who's been keeping up with this fic and motivated me to continue writing! Honestly, it means so much!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurent makes some decisions. Damen makes some as well, just slightly more irrational.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this wooo  
> Might have worked on it instead of studying for exams but oh well  
> I want to thank everyone who kept up with my shit along the way again bc you're the best!  
> Enjoy the last chapter!

_ Damen’s POV _

The weeks passed by and while life had fallen back to its usual routine Damen still felt as if he was dreaming. Laurent hadn’t changed much except for the occasional attempt at being affectionate but Damen couldn’t care less. 

There was a whole folder on Damen’s phone now, solely dedicated to cute pictures of Laurent. Laurent wearing his sweaters. Laurent not knowing Damen was taking a picture when he was laughing at some stupid meme. 

Whenever a conversation vaguely drifted to relationships Damen showed him off. He loved being able to tell people that, as a matter of fact, he had the most talented and beautiful boyfriend in the whole wide world.

What was even better were the weekends spent at Laurent’s. Even if the apartment was cramped with basically living there Damen had come to terms with Nicaise’s suggestive comments and his tiny section in Laurent’s wardrobe. 

Nothing could bring his heightened spirits down, not when Laurent was around simply being his amazing self. 

Sundays had turned into their gym days ever since Damen had gotten a membership in New York as well. Laurent usually got on the treadmill while Damen was in the weight section. On days where he was particularly clingy though, days Damen treasured, Laurent allowed Damen to train him. 

Damen had a hard time focusing on teaching him the proper technique when Laurent looked way too distracting in his tight gym shirts, shirts that Damen may have gifted him for that exact reason.

Things were great if you left out the fact that there were still too many days Damen was left with nothing but short text messages from Laurent. Of course Damen knew that Laurent was busy even if that didn’t stop him from sulking around doing nothing but missing his boyfriend. 

When the first trailers had dropped though, the tweets and comments started. People started theories of Laurent and him dating and Damen wanted nothing more than to tell all of them they were right. 

Damen had just posted a story of the view in their New York gym when he was bombarded with direct messages. All of them asking whether he was in town for Laurent or demands for him to confirm or deny the rumors.

While Damen was going through the messages, Laurent laid next to him sprawled out on the bed with his hair wrapped in a towel. He’d cut it back off to chin length and announced it would have to be cut off fully for opening night much to Damen’s dismay.

“I’m free next weekend so I was thinking of coming over to LA. You’d have to share me with Auguste for an evening though. He’s been complaining about me not calling him as often already.”, Laurent started off his fingers lazily trailing over Damen’s bare torso. 

Damen tore away his gaze from his phone screen and met Laurent’s eyes looking at him intently.

“I thought you had rehearsals on Saturday.”, the statement sounding more like a question. Damen had already planned on booking his flight the second he got back home. Not that he was complaining about some privacy and them finally having a shower that fits both of them comfortably. 

“Turns out Mr. Producer is rather happy with our progress so that was canceled.”, Laurent grimaced and climbed on top of Damen bowing down to place a sweet kiss on Damen’s lips. 

The touch left Damen longing for more when he drew back again. He reached out and pulled Laurent in for a tight hug. 

“I’d love that.”, he sighed and pressed his lips to Laurent’s forehead.

The moment would’ve been blissful if it weren’t for Damen’s thoughts circling back to the messages in a matter of seconds. He respected Laurent’s wish to keep everything on the low but it was weird not to share such an important part of his life when he usually shared everything with his followers. 

“You know people are talking about us.”, Damen mumbled as he let his hands slip beneath Laurent’s sweater in an attempt to find comfort in the touch.

“So let them talk.”, Laurent looked up at Damen and rolled his eyes. They had avoided talking about making their relationship public for the longest time and Damen had tried his best to come to terms with it. 

“We can’t ignore the question when the first interviews start.”, Damen’s thumb trailed along Laurent’s hip bones although he was already afraid Laurent would back off any second now. 

“Then I’ll tell them that my life is none of their business.”, Laurent tensed up beneath Damen’s touch and Damen drew his hands away so he wouldn’t make Lauren feel trapped. 

“What if they ask me? They’ll know I bombarded my feed with pictures of past relationships. I can’t tell them the same.”, Damen pressed and Laurent sat up his jaw clenched. 

“Lie.”, Laurent said cooly and Damen had to fight the urge to wrap his arms around him and never let go. It had been hard to get Laurent to tear down his walls in the first place so it hurt whenever he put them back up.

“I can’t lie. Not about you.”, Damen whispered and felt his chest tighten when Laurent got up and wordlessly walked out the door. Damen took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling the sound of Laurent’s hairdryer coming from the bathroom. 

He’d have to find a way to make this right. They shouldn’t spend the short time they had together fighting. 

Damen rolled off the bed with a sigh and went over to the bathroom door where he stood waiting for Laurent to finally unlock the door. Nicaise, who appeared to be on his way to raid the kitchen once again shot him a sympathetic look but thankfully kept his mouth shut for once.

The sound of the hairdryer broke off a few minutes after and Laurent stepped out, his hair falling in soft waves around his face. He looked guilty and it made Damen’s heart throb. Laurent didn’t have a single thing to worry about.

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I want to keep this a secret. I just don’t want the public to come in between us somehow.”, Laurent muttered and Damen felt lean arms wrap around his body and pulling him close. 

Damen was helpless, there was nothing he could do except return the hug and hide his smile by burying his face in Laurent’s silky hair. 

“I’ll make you some pasta.”, Damen heard himself say as he pressed a soft kiss on Laurent’s hair and loosened his grip around him. Laurent, on the other hand, refused to let go. 

“We can order something.”, Damen felt Laurent’s breath on his skin before soft lips followed. Although Laurent would never say it out loud Damen had gotten to know him well enough by now to read the signs. 

He wasn’t the only one who wished these moments would never end. That he didn’t have to go back and wake up in an empty bed in the mornings. 

Damen’s thoughts drifted to real estate prices for a second before he pushed them away. It was way too soon to think about leaving his whole life behind. Nik would kill him. 

And for now he had much better things to think about. Things like Laurent. He’d deal with the whole other stuff once he was back home again. 

_ Laurent’s POV _

Opening night had been a success. Only one more month to go and Laurent would be on to the next job.

Damen had complained for a whole hour after first seeing Laurent’s new haircut but Laurent liked that he didn’t have to spend hours on his hair anymore. Although Damen’s eyes had looked so sad Laurent was sure he’d grow it out again. 

The movie was almost done as well. Laurent had missed the first screening because of rehearsals but both Damen and Auguste seemed content enough with the results so he didn’t worry too much about it. 

One thing he did worry about was the premiere though. No matter how many times Damen swore he didn’t want anything for Valentine’s Laurent couldn’t shake the feeling that he had something planned. 

They had talked about it. The plan was going to the premiere, acting as if they were simply good friends and sneaking out Auguste’s after-party early to spend the night at Damen’s. 

Laurent didn’t have to be able to read minds to know Damen was still bothered by their compromise to keep their relationship under wraps. 

Sighing, Laurent stepped out of the shower. His limbs were sore and the heat only helped so much but that was just part of his job and it was certainly worth it to feel the joy of the audience. 

He put on his fresh boxers and pulled Damen’s obscenely huge sweater over his head. His smell had faded over the last few days but it felt comforting nevertheless. 

Before Laurent could disappear to his room Nicaise turned his head from where he was sitting on the couch and held out his phone. 

“You still don’t wanna tell them?”, the screen showed some Buzzfeed article and a compilation of his and Damen’s ‘chemistry’ ranked by shots. 

Laurent rolled his eyes and let himself fall down on the couch next to Nicaise. Over the past few months they’d bonded somehow and while Nicaise was still the single most annoying person Laurent had ever come across, he could be great company as well, especially when he needed to distract himself from Damen. 

“I’ve seen what it did to my parents. I’ve seen what it did to the one serious relationship Auguste had. I don’t want to risk it.”, Laurent shrugged and leaned his head against the cushions. 

“You obviously don’t care about public opinion. Neither does he as far as I know. I don’t see the problem.”, Nicaise furrowed his brows and passed Laurent a piece of his chocolate who took it hesitantly.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know if I won’t start caring. What if there are rumors of him cheating going around? I mean… I  _ know _ he wouldn’t but would I really  _ know _ when people start collecting evidence?”, Laurent thought back to all the paparazzi his father had paid off to hide affairs and how his mother had met each question about them with a smile. 

“Just block those websites. What other choice do you have? You can’t keep it secret for all eternity. If your movie is even remotely successful you can bet you can say goodbye to public dates.”, Nicaise grimaced at his last words. “I’ll personally publish photos of you two if I don’t get a single afternoon to myself anymore.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”, Laurent stated, trying to sound more sure than he actually was. 

“Watch me.”, Nicaise grinned and placed his legs above Laurent’s and passed over the remote. “You in for a movie night?”

Laurent was, in fact, in for a movie night even if he wasn’t actually following the plot and ended up falling asleep on the couch with Nicaise still half draped over him. 

He woke up the next morning with a stiff neck but at least Nicaise had had the courtesy to tuck him into a blanket to save him from catching a cold. 

His mind still wasn’t made up about what to do with Damen. Sure, Laurent didn’t want to hurt him. If he was completely honest with himself some part of him wanted to yell into the whole world’s face that, yes, they were dating and very much happily so.

Until the premiere, until Valentine’s. Laurent set himself a deadline although he didn’t even know what exactly the options where. Obviously he could just say fuck it and make it public. But what exactly was going to happen when he didn’t? Would they tone it down? Eventually break up? 

Laurent didn’t want to imagine any of these things. However, he’d much rather see Damen happy by himself or even with someone else than getting more miserable every day with Laurent. 

_ Damen’s POV _

They sat in the back of a fancy stretch limo. Laurent was chatting with Auguste, both of them looking completely unfazed by their surroundings. 

Both brothers were wearing dark blue suits but Damen couldn’t draw his eyes away from Laurent. His now short hair exposed more of his face but that didn’t matter because it was the single most beautiful thing Damen had ever seen. 

A pinch to his side reminded Damen of Nik’s presence and he turned to face his best friend. Nik rested his hand on Damen’s shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. 

“Nervous?”, he asked, his voice low. Damen gave a slight nod. The premiere itself was daunting enough. Having to confess another impulse decision to Laurent afterward was on a whole other level. 

Of course, Nik had tried to stop him at first. Rushing into debt was never a good idea, even Damen was aware of that. In the end though, Nik had given his blessing because ‘At least you can make money off of it if it doesn’t work out.’

The car came to a halt and when Damen peeked through the window he could see a cascade of camera flashes accompanied by a crowd of people. 

Damen felt a smooth hand caress his cheek and immediately smiled. Laurent looked at him, worry displaying openly in his eyes. 

“Try not to tense up too much. It looks bad on pictures.”, Laurent’s voice didn’t sound as casual as he probably wanted it to which was weird, after all, he was the one used to stuff like this, right?

Damen chuckled and drew Laurent in for one last kiss. The second they stepped out of the car he’d have to keep his hands to himself, Damen was all too aware of that. That only made him enjoy the kiss more though. 

“Okay, okay. Try to actually pay attention to the movie later, please.”, Auguste laughed as the doors were opened and the flashes brightened the entire room. 

Laurent pulled away, grabbed one of the champagne glasses, and downed it in one go before stepping out of the car first. Damen was left confused. Laurent didn’t drink. Something had to be wrong and for the next few hours Damen couldn’t even properly confront him about it. 

When Damen got back to reality Nik was the only one left in the car with him. He wouldn’t follow them to the red carpet but instead meet them inside. Damen had made sure to save him a seat right in between the cast. If it weren’t for Nik Damen would never have made it this far. 

“Thank you.”, he mumbled and wrapped his arms around his best friend in a loose hug. 

“I’ll see you inside. Now go have fun.”, Nik sighed and returned the hug with a grin before pushing Damen towards the door. 

When Damen stepped out he was met by camera flashes and shout of his name from every possible direction. He remembered Laurent’s advice and tried his best to relax, not without flexing some of his muscles though.

Everything seemed to be overwhelming so Damen was more than grateful when a woman with a camera team approached him and dangled a microphone in front of his face. 

“Damianos, what was your favorite part of filming? Any behind the scenes stories we need to know?”, the woman asked and Damen’s eyes flicked over to Laurent who was currently signing a teenager’s arm. He knew well enough what his favorite part of filming was. 

“Um, funny story. On the first day Laurent called me a hobo. Looking back he was probably right but it pushed me to do my best.”, Damen grinned and the woman gestured for the cameras to move over to Laurent.

Blue eyes met his own when Laurent looked up and much to the joy of the interviewer Laurent walked over. 

“Laurent, we were just talking about you. What’s your take-”, the woman started off but she fell silent when Laurent grabbed Damen’s tie and yanked at it, causing Damen to bend over and down to Laurent’s height before pressing his lips against Damen’s.

Damen’s mind went blank. All he could do was lean into the kiss and hope this wasn’t just some kind of wishful thinking. 

Much too soon Laurent backed off again, as calm and collected ever except for a hint of pink spread across his cheeks. Damen’s hand subconsciously reached for Laurent’s and was met with a warm smile. It really shouldn’t have surprised him as much, given that Laurent had just  _ kissed _ him in front of everyone here. 

“Are you two dating? Can you confirm?”, the interviewer asked her eyes still opened wide with shock. Damen kept quiet. He had no idea what had caused Laurent’s change of heart on that matter and he didn’t want to jinx anything by saying something stupid.

“Yes.”, Laurent squeezed Damen’s hand gently as he answered and slowly the fact that this was reality came through. 

They continued the interview and posed for some more pictures together before finally making it into the cinema. Laurent let out a deep sigh and placed his head on Damen’s shoulder. 

“That was something, huh?”, Laurent mumbled against the fabric of Damen’s suit. The moment where Laurent’s disguise faltered was short. He straightened his spine again and tucked his arm into Damen’s. “Let’s get to the fun part, shall we?”

“I bought an apartment.”, Damen heard himself blurt out. The regret formed in his gut right after. He’d wanted to hand over the keys later that night with some big speech on their future or at least an attempt of an explanation. 

Laurent stared at him, one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised and his lips slightly parted. 

“I bought an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. It’s a rather small one but it has two bedrooms so you can have your own space. There’s a gym with a pool in the apartment complex and I really think you’d like it there.”, Damen added and ran a hand through his hair, destroying the carefully manufactured style due to his mindlessness. 

“Why did you buy an apartment for me? It must’ve cost a fortune and you won’t even live there. That’s stupid, Damen.”, Laurent chuckled but his eyes softened more with each word he spoke. He didn’t need to say it out loud, Damen already knew he was beyond grateful.

“About that… I’m moving.”, Damen grimaced, unsure of Laurent’s reaction. Laurent liked to be in control, he liked to plan out every little part of his life. Presenting him with a finished plan usually wasn’t the best way to go. “I figured it doesn’t matter if I fly back and forth on the weekends for you or every Wednesday to meet up with Nik for work. Except that I’ll get to see you more often that way.”

“Idiot.”, Laurent huffed but Damen could see the smile forming on his face all too well. 

How he would ever be able to fully deal with Laurent was a mystery but he was looking forward to trying for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it.  
> I literally have no words left lol  
> Hope everyone enjoyed this fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading until the end! 
> 
> I don't know when the next chapter will be up yet but I'll probably work on it instead of doing actual work so you may expect it sooner rather than later.


End file.
